©Itealogir^l  Seminary, 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

No.  Case,     D^-^ E:.3.3... 


./ 


ME 


OF  THE 


GOODNESS    OF   GOD, 


IN 


TWO    DISCOURSES, 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  OPENING  OF    THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH  IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK,  JAN.   11,  1S46, 


BY    THE    PASTOR 


^V' ^/>y\/.PUli^<i  ,j)  j>. 


PRINTED  BY  REQUEST  AND  FOR  THE  USE  OF  THE  CONGREGATION. 


NEW    YORK: 

ROBERT    CARTER,    58    CANAL    STREET. 

PITTSBURG 56    MARKET  STREET. 

1846. 


EDWARD   O.    JENKINS,  PRINTER, 

114  Nassau  street 


-<( 


■rTO^j'  -r 


goodiess'oT'god. 


DISCOURSE     I. 


Text. — Jeremiah  li.  10,  last  clause  of  the  verse,  "  Come  and 
let  us  declare  in  Zion  the  work  of  the  Lord  our  God." 

Our  meeting  in  this  house  of  prayer 
to-day  is  calculated  to  awaken  the  most 
tender  and  thrilling  recollections,  and 
to  call  forth  our  warmest  expressions  of 
gratitude  to  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church.  We  have,  as  a  congregation, 
passed  through  a  severe  ordeal.  To  be 
obliged  to  leave  our  former  place  of  wor- 
ship, .  and  to  break  away  from  all  those 
associations  by  which  it  had  become 
endeared  to  us — to  abandon  the  ground 


upon  which  our  predecessors,  through 
successive  generations,  had  met,  and 
upon  which  many  of  us  had  so  frequently 
been  permitted  to  engage  in  the  wor- 
ship of  Ahnighty  God — where  the  glo- 
rious Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  had 
been  for  so  long  a  period  proclaimed, 
and  the  sacraments  administered  by  dis- 
tinguished servants  of  Christ — where  so 
many  prayers  had  been  offered  and  an- 
swered— where  the  Holy  Spirit  had  been 
poured  out — and  where,  through  His  in- 
fluence so  many  had  been  born  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  sanctified,  comforted 
and  prepared  for  heaven — was  a  great 
trial,  and  occasioned  a  painful  conflict. 
Yet,  if  we  could,  upon  our  first  removal 
from  thence,  at  once  have  entered  this 
commodious  edifice,  it  would  have  been 
an  alleviation  of  our  regret,  and  would 
have  prevented  the  danger  of  disper- 
sion to  which  the  congregation  has  been 


exposed  ever  since.  But  it  was  not  so — 
we  have  been  subjected  to  great  incon- 
venience and  serious  injury  through  the 
want  of  a  suitable  and  comfortable  place 
of  worship  in  the  meantime. 

The  result,  however,  has  been  most 
gratifying,  and  is  a  just  cause  of  thanks- 
giving. Instead  of  having  been  weak- 
ened, we  have  been  strengthened  dur- 
ing the  period  of  our  temporary  exile, 
and  under  all  the  unfavorable  circum- 
stances attending  it.  The  attachment 
of  the  members  of  the  congregation  to 
the  church  of  their  fathers,  and  of  their 
choice,  has  triumphed  over  all  the  con- 
siderations and  influences  by  which  they 
were  tempted  to  separate  from  us,  and 
we  now  know  who  are  the  true,  sincere, 
conscientiously  devoted,  and  tried  friends 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  They 
have  done  well — they  have  endured  and 
performed  a  good  work — the  record  of 


6 

which  is  on  high.  We  pray  that  the 
blessing  of  our  covenant  God,  to  whom 
they  look  for  their  reward,  may  descend 
upon  them  and  upon  their  childrev, 
henceforth  and  forever. 

The  words  of  the  text  have  been 
selected  on  account  of  the  sentiments 
which  they  express.  They  inculcate  the 
duty  of  acknowledging  the  goodness  of 
God,  and  of  recounting  his  mercies  to- 
wards us ;  and  they  teach  us  that  this 
duty  is  to  be  performed  in  Zion.  We  are 
not  merely  in  secret  and  as  individuals  to 
feel  grateful — we  are  called  upon  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  to  express,  in  a  pub- 
lic manner,  a  sense  of  our  obligations  to 
the  Lord — declaring  in  Zion  what  he 
has  done  for  our  souls  and  what  he  has 
done  for  his  Church.  The  glory  which 
Jehovah  receives  from  his  people  in  re- 
turn for  distinguishing  mercies  bestowed 
upon   them,   is   the    public    and    social 


praise  which  they  render  to  him  in  the 
ways  of  his  own  appointment — "  whoso 
offereth  praise  glorifieth  God."  This  is 
our  reasonable  service,  and  is  in  accord- 
ance with  our  very  constitution.  lur 
gratitude  is  a  transgression  of  the  law 
of  our  nature.  Those  who  are  guilty  of 
it  discover  the  deepest  depravity,  and 
are  justly  condemned  as  brutish  in  the 
sight  of  God,  as  it  is  written,  "  I  have 
nourished  and  brought  up  children  but 
they  have  rebelled  against  me.  The  ox 
knoweth  his  owner  and  the  ass  his  mas- 
ter's crib,  but  Israel  doth  not  know,  my 
people  doth  not  consider."  We  are  at 
all  times  to  set  a  just  value  on  the  bless- 
ings we  receive  whilst  we  are  to  feel 
and  acknowledge  our  unworthiness  of 
them.  We  should  cherish  the  senti- 
ments expressed  by  Jacob,  when  he 
said,  "  I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of 
all  the  mercies,  and    of  all  the    truth 


8 

which  thou  hast  showed  to  thy  servant ;" 
and  by  David,  when  he  exclaimed  with 
unaffected  admiration,  "Who  am  I,  or 
what  was  my  Father's  house  ?  what  is 
man  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him,  or  the 
son  of  man  that  thou  visitest  him  ?" 
Every  good  gift,  and  every  perfect  gift 
Cometh  down  from  the  Father  of  lights, 
and  all  the  return  we  c&n  make  him  for 
the  benefits  and  mercies  we  receive  from 
him  continually,  is  to  cherish  and  to 
acknowledge  in  sincerity  a  sense  of  our 
obligations  to  him.  Instead  of  rest- 
ing in  the  gift,  we  must  ascend  with  our 
hearts  and  affections  to  the  Giver.  We 
must  declare  the  wonderful  works  of  the 
Lord — his  grace  and  condescension  to 
the  children  of  men,  and  give  him  thanks 
that  we  may  show  forth  his  praise.  The 
performance  of  this  duty  with  a  right 
spirit,  and  in  a  suitable  frame  of  mind, 
will  bring  with  it  its  ow^n  reward  and  be 


9 

acceptable  to  God.  It  elevates  the  soul 
and  prepares  it  for  the  pure  and  holy 
exercises  of  heaven.  "  It  is  good  to  give 
thanks  unto  the  Lord,  and  praise  is  come- 
ly for  the  upright."  The  Lord  says  of 
his  Church,  "  This  people  have  I  formed 
for  myself  They  shall  show  forth  my 
praise."  She  is  also  required  to  remem- 
ber her  origin  and  all  the  way  in  which 
she  has  been  led,  that  with  the  blessing 
of  God  such  a  remembrance  may  be  made 
the  means  of  strengthening  her  faith  and 
confidence  in  her  Redeemer,  and  of  in- 
creasing her  love  and  gratitude  to  him. 

We  think  we  can  see  the  hand  of  God 
in  our  ecclesiastical  organization,  and  in 
our  preservation  as  a  branch  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  Believing  that 
this  has  been  his  work,  we  wish  to  de- 
clare it  and  to  give  him  thanks  for  it. 

Without  assailing,  or  making  invidious 
comparisons  with,  the  religious  creed  of 


10 

other  Christian  denominations — and  cer- 
tainly without  any  design  of  disparaging 
or  denouncing  them — we  propose  on  the 
present  occasion  to  give  a  general  state- 
ment and  brief  defence  of  that  system  of 
truth  and  ecclesiastical  order  which  has 
been  adopted  by  the  Presbyterian  Church . 
We  believe  that  our  doctrine,  form 
of  government  and  discipline,  are  strict- 
ly in  accordance  with  the  Word  of  God, 
and  therefore  prefer  and  hold  them. 
We  think  we  are  prepared  to  show,  by 
a  fair  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures, 
as  a  reason  of  our  faith  and  preference, 
that  the  doctrines  contained  in  our  Con- 
fession of  Faith  and  Catechisms  were 
taught  by  our  Lord  and  his  apostles. 
Many  of  them  are  expressed  in  their 
very  language,  and  all  of  them  are  founded 
on  their  declarations,  being  according 
"  to  that  form  of  sound  words  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints,"     It  is  notorious 


11 

that  the  same  objections  which  were 
raised  against  some  of  them  when 
preached  by  the  Saviour  himself,  and  by 
his  inspired  Apostles,  and  which  were 
answered  by  them  at  the  time,  are  still 
urged  against  them  as  they  are  taught 
in  our  standards,  and  when  they  are 
faithfully  preached  by  our  ministers, 
which  proves  the  unity  of  our  doctrine 
with  theirs,  in  those  points  at  least* 
They  are  the  same  which  were  taught  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  from  the  beginning — 
in  the  faith  of  which  the  Fathers  lived, 
obtained  a  good  report  and  inherited 
the  promises.  They  are  the  same  which 
were  believed,  taught,  and  earnestly 
contended  for  by  the  Reformers,  who 
learned  them  from  the  Scriptures  as  in- 
terpreted and  applied  by  the  Spirit. 

The  truth  is  one,  and  the  source  of  it 
unchangeable.  Hence,  all  who  learn 
it  from  that  source,  and  come  to  the 


12 

knowledge  of  it  through  their  expe- 
rience of  its  power,  will  agree  substan- 
tially in  their  views  of  it. 

Those  doctrines  which  have  been 
called,  by  way  of  distinction,  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Reformation,  were  in  the 
Bible  from  the  beginning.  They  do  not 
date  from  that  period  nor  were  they 
then  first  discovered.  They  had  been 
always  held  by  true  believers,  and  were 
held  by  those  who  constituted  the  true 
Church  of  Christ  during  the  darkest  pe- 
riods of  her  history.  When  a  part  of 
what  was  called  the  Church  had  aposta- 
tized, was  in  alliance  with  the  world — 
had  substituted  vain  traditions  of  men 
for  the  truth  of  God — heathen  and  child- 
ish ceremonies  for  the  simple  and  spirit- 
ual worship  required  in  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ — the  true  Church  was  to  be 
found  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  among 
the    Waldenses    and    Albigenses,   and 


13 

among  the  followers  of  Wickliffb  in  dif- 
ferent places.  Then,  as  there  always 
has  been,  there  was  a  remnant  accord- 
ing to  the  election  of  grace,  who  did 
not  bow  the  knee  to  Baal,  and  who  were 
kept  in  the  faith  and  love  of  the  truth. 

Those  doctrines  which  have  been 
also  called  by  way  of  distinction  Calvin- 
istic,  because  they  were  more  methodi- 
cally arranged  by  John  Calvin,  whose 
name  they  bear,  than  they  had  pre- 
viously been,  and  were  more  clearly  and 
ably  expounded  by  that  wonderful  man 
than  by  others — a  man  so  great,  so 
learned,  so  wise,  and  yet  so  good  that 
his  equal  has  not  appeared  in  the  Church 
since  the  days  of  Paul — w^ere  the  doc- 
trines taught  from  the  word  of  God  by 
all  the  Reformers,  and  w  ere  almost  uni- 
versally received  by  the  friends  of  the 
Redeemer  who  lived  in  those  days. 

Luther  and  Calvin  agreed  substantially 
2 


14 

on  all  matters  of  faith,  excepting  as  to 
the  manner  of  the  presence  of  Christ  in 
the  sacrament,  and  as  to  the  divine  inspi- 
ration of  some  parts  of  the  Scriptures. 
Luther  taught  the  doctrine  of  God's 
sovereignty,  of  the  divine  decrees,  of 
predestination  and  election,  of  original 
sin,  of  salvation  through  grace,  of  justi- 
fication by  faith  alone,  of  the  influences 
of  the  Spirit  on  the  hearts  of  sinners  in 
their  regeneration  and  sanctification,  and 
of  the  perseverance  of  the  saints,  as  ful- 
ly, as  explicitly,  as  boldly,  and  as  con- 
stantly as  Calvin  did.  He  did  not  con- 
sider these  doctrines  dangerous,  and  of 
pernicious  tendency — neither  did  he  re- 
gard them  as  mere  abstract  speculations 
with  w^hich  the  people  of  God  have  no- 
thing to  do.  They  were  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  the  Gospel  which  he  preached, 
and  which  God  was  pleased  so  remarka- 
bly to  bless  to  the  salvation  of  many  souls. 


w 

It  may,  perhaps,  surprise  some,  to  find 
these  doctrines  prominent  in  all  the 
writings  of  Luther — expressed  at  large 
and  without  reserve — when  it  is  known 
that  so  few  of  those  who  are  now  called 
by  his  name,  as  a  distinct  religious  de- 
nomination, agree  with  him.  We  may 
add,  also,  that  these  same  doctrines  which 
have  been  so  much  spoken  against, 
which  are  regarded  with  so  much  pre- 
judice by  many,  are  contained  in  the 
Confessions  of  Faith  of  most  of  the  lead- 
ing Protestant  Evangelical  Churches 
which  have  been  formed  since  the  Re- 
formation. They  are  set  forth  and  ex- 
pressed as  explicitly  and  strongly,  in  the 
Articles  of  Faith  and  in  the  Homilies  of 
the  Church  of  England,  in  the  Doctrinal 
Standards  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
Holland  and  of  their  descendants,  as 
they  are  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  and 
Catechisms  of  the  Westminister  Assem- 


16 

bly  of  Divines,  and  which  are  the  com- 
mon and  pubHcly-expressed  Standards 
of  Faith  in  all  Presbyterian  Churches  in 
Great  Britain  and  in  the  United  States. 
If  there  be  any  peculiarity  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  on  this  subject,  it  is  not 
in  having  those  doctrines  in  our  Con- 
fession, and  in  our  professing  to  believe 
them,  but  in  our  openly  preaching  and 
maintaining  them.  We  have  no  desire 
to  keep  our  faith  of  them  a  secret,  nor 
to  withhold  them  from  the  people. 
We  feel  bound,  as  honest  men,  and  as 
commissioned  preachers  of  the  Gospel, 
to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God, 
whether  men  will  hear  or  whether 
they  will  forbear.  We  dare  not  keep 
back  any  of  that  Scripture  which  has 
been  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and 
which  is  profitable  for  doctrine  —  for 
reproof — for  correction — for  instruction 
in   righteousness.     Neither  do  we  feel 


17 

any  desire  to  suppress  any  part  of  that 
truth  by  which  God  has  made  himself 
known,  and  through  the  knowledge  of 
which  alone,  men  can  be  saved.  We 
do  not  preach  it  reluctantly,  nor  by 
constraint,  but  willingly,  as  that  through 
which  God  is  glorified  and  his  people 
sanctified.  We  must  know  God  as  he 
is,  and  we  must  know  of  his  purposes, 
of  his  judgments,  and  of  the  methods  of 
his  grace,  or  we  cannot  know  whether 
we  love  him,  and  cordially  approve  of  him 
as  our  God.  We  must  also  understand 
the  nature  of  His  salvation,  and  be  ac- 
quainted with  the  way  in  which  He  be- 
stows it,  or  we  cannot  know  whether 
we  desire  it ;  nor  can  we  seek  after  it 
intelligently. 

It  has  been  objected  by  some,  even  of 

those  who  had  professed  their  faith  in 

these   doctrines,  that  the  preaching  of 

them  would  not  be  for  edification,  inas- 

2* 


18 

much  as  many  would  be  offended  at 
them.  But  this  is  only  in  confirmation 
of  the  Scripture  which  saith  that  the 
carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God ; 
and  that  the  preaching  of  Christ  cruci- 
fied, as  the  only  ordinance  of  God  for 
the  salvation  of  sinners,  is  a  stumbling- 
block  and  foolishness.  To  suppress  them 
for  such,  or  for  any  reasons,  would  be 
to  take  unwarrantable  liberty  with  the 
Word  of  God,  and  a  presumptuous  at- 
tempt to  remove  the  offence  of  the  cross. 
We  believe  that  we  have  no  such  dis- 
cretion ;  but  are  solemnly  bound  to  be 
consistent  and  faithful,  to  speak  as  we 
think,  to  do  as  we  profess.  Besides,  if 
we  attempt  to  please  men,  we  cannot 
be  the  servants  of  God,  nor  expect  his 
blessinsr.  We  know^  that  the  wisdom 
of  God  is  wiser  than  men.  He  employs 
means  adapted  to  the  end  which  they 
are  intended  to  accomplivsh.      He  will 


19 

bless  his  own  truth,  and  will  make  it 
efficacious  to  humble,  purify  and  save 
men ;  but  not  the  inventions  of  human 
wisdom.  Nor  can  these  effects  be  pi'o- 
duced,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  whole 
truth.  If  men  are,  in  their  hearts,  op- 
posed to  the  truth,  and  will  not  hear 
sound  doctrine ;  if  they  cannot  renounce 
self;  yield  their  own  judgments,  wills 
and  prejudices  to  the  teaching  of  God's 
spirit ;  if  they  are  not  willing  that  God 
should  be  God — supreme,  sovereign  and 
absolute — a  just  God  and  a  Saviour — we 
ought  not  to  attempt  to  deceive  them 
respecting  the  state  of  their  hearts ;  nor 
should  they  conceal  from  themselves  the 
melancholy  fact  that  they  are  unbeliev- 
ers, have  not  the  love  of  God  in  them, 
and  will  not  have  Christ  to  reign  over 
them.  Surely,  the  sooner  they  learn  to 
know  themselves  as  not  subject  to  the 
law  of  God,  the  better.     We  have  been 


20 

commissioned  to  make  known  the  God 
of  the  Bible,  as  possessing  those  attri- 
butes and  exercising  those  prerogatives 
which  are  peculiar  and  essential  to  him ; 
and  also  the  plan  of  salvation  through 
Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  his  people  were 
"  chosen  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  that  they  might  be  holy  and  with- 
out blame  before  him  in  love,  and  who 
was  manifested  in  these  last  times  for 
them  who  by  him  believe  in  God."  If 
any  are  saved,  it  must  be  through  him, 
for  his  is  the  only  name  given,  under 
heaven,  among  men  whereby  we  can  be 
saved.  They  must  be  saved ;  not  in  a 
way  of  their  own  fancy  or  choice,  and 
which  would  gratify  their  pride,  but  ac- 
cording to  the  will  of  God ;  not  by  works 
of  righteousness  which  they  have  done, 
but  according  to  his  mercy,  according  to 
his  purpose  and  grace,  by  the  washing 
of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy 


21 

Ghost.  We  are  sent  to  publish  the  re- 
cord which  has  been  committed  to  us : 
"that  God  has  given  us  eternal  life,  and 
that  this  life  is  in  his  Son,  and  that  this 
is  eternal  life,  to  know  Him  who  is  the 
only  living  and  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ  whom  he  hath  sent."  Thus,  in 
teaching  our  people  all  which  we  be- 
lieve, and  in  giving  them  a  reason  of  the 
hope  that  is  in  us,  we  act  under  com- 
mission, and  with  a  desire  to  promote 
the  salvation  of  their  souls.  If,  in  doing 
so,  we  give  offence,  we  regret  it;  but 
we  cannot  do  otherwise  than  speak  the 
truth ;  and  we  will  constantly  remind 
those  who  are  offended,  that  their  quar- 
rel is  not  with  us,  but  with  God,  whose 
truth  we  endeavor  to  speak  in  love. 

But  the  distinctive  peculiarity  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  as  such,  is  to  be 
found  in  her  forms  of  worship,  and  in 
the  principles  of  her  government.    These 


22 

we  believe  to  be  also  in  accordance  with 
the  Word  of  God,  and  derived  immedi- 
ately from  the  Scriptures.  They  are  as 
nearly  in  conformity  with  the  simple, 
unadorned  and  unostentatious  worship 
which  was  instituted  by  the  Apostles, 
under  the  New  Testament  dispensation, 
as  they  can  be  under  our  different  cir- 
cumstances. Our  mode  o^ public  prayer, 
in  a  standing  position,  and  of  praise,  with 
Psalms  and  Hymns,  and  spiritual  songs, 
in  which  the  whole  congregation  join — 
of  reading  and  expounding  the  Scrip- 
tures throughout,  and  of  administering 
the  two  only  sacraments  which  have 
been  instituted  by  the  Great  Head  of 
the  Church,  of  Baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper — are  authorized  by  the  usage  of 
the  disciples,  and  by  the  express  com- 
mands of  our  Saviour  and  his  Apostles. 
The  great  Protestant  principle,  and 
which  is  held  as  fundamental  by  Pres- 


23 

byterians,  is,  that  God  alone  is  Lord  o{ 
the  conscience,  "  and  hath  left  it  free  from 
the  doctrine  and  commandments  of  men 
which  are  in  anything  contrary  to  his 
Word,  or  beside  it  in  matters  of  faith  and 
worship."  "  There  is  oTie  God  and  one  Me- 
diator between  God  and  man — the  man 
Christ  Jesus."  No  being  intervenes,  or 
can  interpose  between  us  and  that  Me- 
diator. We  have  immediate  and  direct 
access  to  Immanuel.  As  Jehovah  incar- 
nate, he  comes  down  to  us,  and  brings 
us  nigh  unto  him.  He  is  our  only  Con- 
fessor, Teacher,  Guide,  Counsellor,  Sa- 
viour, Friend  and  Portion.  No  enact- 
ments of  the  Church,  whose  power  is 
only  ministerial  and  declarative;  no  eccle- 
siastical legislation ;  no  decrees  of  coun- 
cils; no  priesthood;  no  Hierarchy;  no 
Pope,  nor  creature  of  the  State,  can 
come  between  us  and  Jesus  Christ,  to 
debar  us  from  his  presence,  cut  us  off 


24 

from  our  interest  in  him,  and  from  our 
communion  with  him.  This  simple  truth, 
when  comprehended  and  appreciated, 
lifts  us  above  tyranny  and  oppression, 
whether  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  and  gives 
us  a  place  among  ihef7^ee.  It  is  the  germ 
of  all  true  liberty.  The  knowledge  and 
faith  of  it  have  effected  a  far  greater 
change  in  the  moral  character  of  those 
who  have  embraced  it,  than  climate  has 
ever  effected  in  the  physical  character 
of  the  races  of  the  human  family,  and 
one  by  which  they  may  be  as  distinctly 
marked  in  their  history.  The  men  who 
have  lived  in  the  light  of  this  doctrine, 
have  stood  erect  like  men.  They  could 
never  be  made  to  bow  to  arbitrary  hu- 
man authority ;  they  were  subject  to 
every  ordinance  of  God,  while  they 
breathed  the  air  of  heaven  and  had  their 
conversation  there.  It  was  for  this  the 
Covenanters  of  Scotland  contended  so 


25 

long  and  so  nobly.  It  was  their  know- 
ledge of  this  truth  which  made  them 
what  they  were — which  raised  them  so 
far  above  the  world,  and  placed  them  so 
far  in  advance  of  their  cotemporaries,  as 
it  regarded  their  views  of  truth,  integ- 
rity, human  rights,  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  They  have  received  the  por- 
tion in  this  world  which  our  Saviour  de- 
clared must  be  expected  by  his  faithful 
followers — hatred,  persecution  and  trib- 
ulation. They  were  hunted  like  wild 
beasts,  and  down-trodden,  while  they 
lived,  and  have  been  caricatured  and 
ridiculed  since  their  death ;  still,  in  Christ 
they  had  peace.  Their  testimony  and 
example  remain  as  a  monument  in  honor 
of  their  memory  and  of  their  attain- 
ments through  grace,  more  durable  than 
brass. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  Puritans  of 
England,  who  have  been,  in  some  quar- 
3 


26 

ters,  as  much  abused  as  the  Covenant- 
ers ;  but  who  have  been  also  most  ably 
and  eloquently  defended  by  those  who 
could  appreciate  their  character,  as  men 
to  whom,  under  God,  this  nation  and  the 
world  owe  so  much.  It  was  their  im- 
mediate, direct  and  constant  intercourse 
with  God,  which  made  them  wise,  in- 
trepid and  mighty  in  the  truth ;  indiffer- 
ent to  the  honors,  riches  and  pleasures 
of  the  world ;  grave  in  their  whole  de- 
portment; faithful,  upright  and  consci- 
entiously sincere  in  all  their  intercourse  ; 
cool  and  collected  under  every  emergen- 
cy ;  determined,  persevering  and  daunt- 
less, in  the  accomplishment  of  their  pur- 
pose ;  calm  and  tranquil,  peaceful  and 
happy  in  their  death. 

We  give  men  the  Scriptures,  as  con- 
taining the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and 
practice ;  to  be  diligently  searched  by 
every  individual;    to   be   received  and 


27 

obeyed  on  the  authority  of  God ;  to  be 
interpreted  according  to  the  analogy  of 
faith,  comparing  Scripture  with  Scrip- 
ture, under  the  teaching  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  This  is  the  method,  as  we  be- 
lieve, by  which  God  intends  graciously 
to  restore  man,  and  elevate  him  to  his 
true  dignity,  as  an  intelligent,  moral  and 
responsible  being. 

We  have  the  ordinary  officers  which 
are  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  all  which  were  intended  to  be  perma- 
nent in  the  Church,  but  no  more.  God 
has  mercifully  preserved  us  from  error, 
from  innovation  and  corruption  in  this 
respect  also.  We  do  not  believe  that 
the  Church  has  been  left  without  a  Head, 
nor  do  we  belong  to  a  Church  without  a 
Head — far  from  it — but  we  believe  that 
her  glorious  Head  is  in  heaven.  To  this 
headship  of  the  Church  we  hold,  and  can 
acknowledge  no  other;  nor  can  we  be- 


lieve  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  left 
any  other  vicar  on  earth  besides  the  Holy 
Spirit,  whom  he  promised  to  send,  and 
whom  he  did  send,  to  supply  the  absence 
of  his  human  nature,  which  the  heavens 
must  receive,  until  the  time  of  the  resti- 
tution of  all  things.  We,  therefore,  look 
upon  it  as  worse  than  mockery,  as  an 
impious  and  presumptuous  usurpation, 
for  man  to  affect,  in  any  form,  to  act  as 
the  Head  of  the  Church,  or  to  perform 
the  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  has  left  authority,  and  es- 
tablished government  in  his  Church,  but 
it  is  executive  merely.  The  names,  qual- 
ifications and  duties  of  those  who  are  to 
bear  rule  in  his  house,  and  the  manner 
in  which  they  are  to  be  inducted  into 
office,  are  all  mentioned  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  are  adopted  by  us  as  our 
guide  in  these  matters. 

The  Apostles  were  extraordinary  offi- 


29 

cers,  and  as  such  had  no  successors.  It 
was  essential  to  the  office  of  an  Apostle 
that  the  incumbent  should  have  seen 
the  Lord — that  he  might  testify  to  his 
resurrection  as  an  eye-witness.  To 
qualify  Saul  of  Tarsus  to  become  an 
Apostle,  a  special  miracle  was  wrought. 
Jesus  actually  appeared  to  him.  Be- 
sides, the  Apostles  were  enabled  to  per- 
form miracles  by  which  to  confirm  their 
divine  commission.  They  could  not, 
therefore,  have  successors;  nor  was  it 
necessary  that  they  should  have,  except 
as  they  were  Presbyters  and  Ministers 
of  Christ.  That  they  were  such,  they 
themselves  declare.  Even  Peter,  who 
has  been  made  to  father  all  the  abomi- 
nations of  Rome,  says,  "  the  Elders  I  ex- 
hort who  am  also  an  Elder,"  a  co-presby- 
ter, with  you;  and  the  Apostle  John 
styles  himself  "  the  Elder  to  the  elect 
lady  "  in  his  Epistle.  We  read  in  the  New 
3* 


30 

Testament  of  Bishops  who  had  the  over- 
sight, the  watch  and  care  of  a  particular 
Church  or  Churches,  and  who  performed 
the  duties  of  a  Pastor  to  them,  but  not 
of  Bishops  over  the  Ministers  in  a  cer- 
tain district.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  great  shepherd  and  bishop  over  Min- 
isters and  people.  The  Bishops  spoken 
of  in  the  Scriptures  are  Presbyters. 

Every  reader  of  the  New  Testament 
knows  that  the  terms  Bishop  and  Pres- 
byter are  convertible.  They  are  used 
interchangeably  to  designate  the  same 
officers,  who  were  required  to  possess 
the  same  qualifications,  and  who  were 
ordained  in  the  same  manner.  Paul, 
writing  to  Titus,  says,  i.,  5,  that  he  had 
left  him  in  Crete,  to  ordain  Elders,  Pres- 
byters, (more  than  one,)  in  every  city, 
as  he  had  appointed  him ;  and  then  de- 
scribes the  character  of  those  who  might 
be  ordained,  verse  6 :  "If  any  be  blame- 


31 

less,  the  husband  of  one  wife,  havmg  faith- 
ful children  not  accused  of  riot  or  un- 
ruly/' and  gives  as  a  reason  for  this  caution 
in  selecting  candidates,  what  follows 
in  the  next  verse,  "  For  a  B'shop  must  be 
blameless,  as  the  steward  of  God,"  &c., 
thus  evidently  identifying  the  office  of 
Presbyter  and  Bishop.  By  comparing 
this  passage  with  what  is  written  in 
1  Tim.  iii.,  1,  it  will  be  perceived  that 
the  same  qualifications  which  are  enu- 
merated as  essential  to  the  office  of  a 
Bishop,  are  those  which  are  here  named 
as  necessary  to  the  office  of  a  Presbyter. 
Another  instance  of  the  interchangeable 
use  of  these  terms  we  have  in  the  well- 
known  passage  in  Acts  xx.,  17-28.  Paul 
sent  for  the  Elders,  the  Vresbijters,  of  the 
Church  of  Ephesus  to  meet  him  at  Mile- 
tum,  and  enjoined  them,  among  other 
things,  to  take  heed  to  all  the  flock  over 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  had  made  them 


32 

overseers,  Bishops,  to  feed  the  Church 
of  God,  which  he  hath  purchased  with 
his  own  blood ;  but  we  need  not  enlarge 
on  this  point. 

We  read,  also,  of  Ruling  Elders,  who 
do  not  labor  in  the  word  and  doctrine, 
1  Tim.  v.,  17,  but  who,  as  helps,  have 
authority  to  govern  in  the  Church,  tak- 
ing the  oversight  of  the  flock  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Pastor,  having  no  authority 
as  such  to  preach,  administer  the  sacra- 
ments, nor  to  ordain.  And  we  read  of 
Deacons  who  were  appointed,  not  to 
preach — not  as  a  distinct  order  of  the 
ministry,  nor  to  hold  an  office  which  is 
to  be  a  stepping-stone  to  a  higher  or- 
der— but  as  officers  who  were  to  manage 
the  temporal  affairs  of  the  Church;  to 
have  the  care  of  the  poor,  and  to  dis- 
pense to  them  the  charities  of  the  Church. 
They  were  appointed  expressly  to  re- 
lieve the  Preachers  of  the  Gospel  from  the 


33 

duty  of  serving  tables,  and  to  enable 
those  who  were  Preachers  to  give  them- 
selves "continually  to  prayer  and  the 
Ministry  of  the  Word/'  Acts  vi.,  1-4. 
Besides  these,  we  acknowledge  no  other 
permanent  officers  nor  titles  of  office  in  the 
Church,  because  we  do  not  find  them  in  the 
Word  of  God,  which  is  our  only  directory. 

There  were  Evangelists,  as  we  also 
ordain  Missionaries,  without  charge  for 
special  services  in  the  Church ;  but 
they  belong  to  the  same  order  of  Minis- 
ters of  the  Gospel,  among  whom  there  is 
a  perfect  paiity,  according  to  the  com- 
mand of  Christ,  Mat.  xx.,  25-28. 

We  require  the  same  qualifications 
in  those  whom  we  ordain  to  these  offi- 
ces, and  the  performance  of  the  same 
duties  which  belong  to  them  respective- 
ly, as  are  specified  in  the  Scriptures. 
And  they  are  ordained  to  office,  not  by 
a  Diocesan  Bishop,  because  there  is  no 


84 

such  officer  named  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. There  is  no  account  of  any  one 
who  ever  exercised  such  an  office.  We 
do  not  find  the  quaUfications  of  such 
an  officer  enumerated,  nor  his  duties  de- 
fined. We  therefore  have  no  such  officer 
in  our  system  ;  we  do  not  beheve  in  him. 
Nor  is  ordination  performed  by  the 
people,  the  body  of  behevers.  They 
have  no  such  power,  and  cannot  confer 
it  on  others.  There  is  no  instance  on 
record,  in  the  New  Testament,  in  which 
the  people  exercised  that  power.  The 
power  and  commission  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  administer  the  sacraments  and 
govern  the  Church,  was  not  given  to  the 
people  merely  as  worshipers,  but  to  the 
Church,  to  be  exercised  by  her  officers. 
It  comes  from  above,  and  is  descending ; 
it  comes  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
is  delegated  to  those  whom  he  has  de- 
signated as  officers  in  his  Church,  and 


35 

through  and  by  them  is  it  to  be  imparted 
to  others.  The  error  of  those  (for  I  con- 
sider it  an  error  and  an  abandonment  of 
Presbyterianism)  who  reverse  this  order, 
and  teach  that  the  people  are  the  source 
of  this  power,  and  that  it  is  ascending 
in  its  nature,  arises,  as  it  appears  to  me, 
from  their  putting  asunder  what  God  has 
inseparably  joined  together,  viz.,  the 
body  of  the  people  and  the  officers  who 
are  to  rule  over  them.  They  speak  of 
the  Church  as  distinct  from,  and  in  op- 
position to,  the  officers  of  the  Church, 
whereas  the  Church  includes  her  officers 
and  her  Head.  Through  a  fear,  as  it 
would  seem,  of  being  charged  with  hold- 
ing the  odious  doctrine  of  succession, 
they  destroy  the  unity  of  the  Church, 
divide  her  into  ten  thousand  indepen- 
dent fragments  which  may  spring  up 
anywhere  like  mushrooms,  having  no 
connection  with  any  that  have  gone  be- 


36 

fore  them,  or  that  co-exist  with  them,  or 
that  shall  come  after  them;  and  they 
subvert  the  order  of  Christ's  house,  leav- 
ing these  independent  societies  without 
a  Head  and  without  a  government,  ex- 
cept as  they  may  be  created  by  them- 
selves. From  an  examination  of  the 
Scriptures,  we  cannot  find  that  there 
ever  has  been  a  Church  without  a  Min- 
istry. There  can  be  no  Church  where 
the  Word  and  sacraments  are  not  admin- 
istered, and  these  can  be  administered 
by  an  ordained  Ministry  only.  There 
have  been  congregations  without  Pastors, 
but  they  belonged  to  the  Church  which 
had  a  Ministry.  We  learn,  also,  that 
under  the  New  Testament  dispensation, 
the  Ministry  was  before  the  Church,  in 
the  order  of  nature  and  of  time ;  but 
was  given  to  the  Church  for  her  edifica- 
tion. Now  it  is  as  easy  for  God  to  pre- 
serve a  succession  of  Ministers,  as  it  is 


37 

to  preserve  a  succession  of  believers; 
and  it  is  matter  of  history  that  he  has 
done  so.  As  the  Church  has  been  pre- 
served through  all  the  changes  of  time, 
through  all  the  revolutions  of  empires, 
and  through  all  the  persecutions  of  the 
infuriated  world,  so  has  her  Ministry 
been  preserved.  With  them  is  lodged 
the  power  of  ordination — of  inducting 
suitable  men  into  the  Ministry  as  their 
coadjutors  and  successors.  This  may 
be  called  the  doctrine  of  succession,  but 
it  is  a  very  different  doctrine  from  that 
which  teaches  that  there  has  been  a 
succession  of  Popes  or  an  unbroken  chain 
of  individual  Bishops,  ordained  after  a 
particular  form,  who  have  transmitted,  in 
one  line,  a  certain  subtle,  mysterious  in- 
fluence and  authority,  the  exercise  of 
which  is  essential  to  the  validity  of  all 
religious  administrations,  and  to  salva- 
tion. It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  succession 
4 


38 

or  preservation  of  the  Church,  in  fulfill- 
ment of  the  promise  that  "  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  never  prevail  against  her,"  and 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  be  present 
with  her  always,  even  unto  the  end.  It  is 
to  maintain  "that  God  cannot  lie,"  and  that 
the  Scriptures  cannot  be  broken.  He  has 
appointed  offices  to  be  executed  by  a  dis- 
tinct class  and  a  separate  order  of  men. 
To  fill  those  offices,  persons  were  or- 
dained by  the  Apostles,  with  an  injunc- 
tion to  ordain  others.  On  them  rests 
the  responsibility  of  looking  out  and 
training  up  others,  and  with  them  is 
lodged  the  power  of  ordaining  them. 
"  The  things  that  thou  hast  heard  of  me," 
says  Paul  to  Timothy,  "among  many  wit- 
nesses, the  same  commit  thou  to  faithful 
men  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  others 
also'^  2  Tim.  ii.  2.  It  may  be  asked.  Have 
the  people  no  voice  ?  have  they  no  rights  ? 
Unquestionably ;    they  elect  their  own 


39 

officers,  they  choose  their  own  Pastors, 
and  no  one  can  be  placed  over  them,  in 
the  Lord,  without  their  consent ;  yet 
their  spiritual  Rulers  and  Teachers  must 
be  inducted  into  office  by  the  existing 
Ministry,  just  as  it  was  in  the  case  of  the 
Deacons  of  whose  appointment  we  have 
an  account  in  the  Acts  vi.,  5,  6.  The 
people  were  required  to  make  the  selec- 
tion of  suitable  persons ;  the  choice  was 
left  entirely  to  them  :  but  after  they  had 
been  thus  designated  and  elected  by  the 
people,  the  Apostles  ordained  them ;  and 
as  it  is  in  a  manner  in  our  civil  affairs, 
the  people  elect  their  own  officers,  but 
they  do  not  invest  them  with  office. 
They  are  inducted  into  office  and  clothed 
with  the  authority  of  it,  by  the  existing 
government. 

Our  Ministers  are  ordained  by  the 
laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presby- 
tery.     1   Tim.   iv.,    14:    "Neglect  not 


40 

the  gift  that  is  in  thee,  which  was 
given  thee  by  prophecy  with  the  laying 
on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery." 
Ruling  Elders  and  Deacons  are  ordained 
by  the  Pastor  of  the  Church  in  which 
they  are  to  serve. 

Thus  it  appears  that  our  govern- 
ment is  not  monarchical ;  it  is  not 
administered  by  a  single  individual  i 
it  cannot,  therefore,  be  despotic  nor 
arbitrary.  It  is  not  aristocratical ;  the 
power  is  not  placed  in  the  hands  of  a 
ew  self-constituted  officers,  who  act  in- 
dependently of  the  people,  who  are 
under  no  responsibility  to  them,  who 
may  perpetuate  themselves,  and  from 
whose  decision  there  is  no  appeal.  The 
Pastor  and  the  officers  of  particular 
Churches  are  not  chosen  by  their  prede- 
cessors, nor  are  they  placed  over  congre- 
gations in  an  arbitrary  manner  by  the 
Presbytery,  but  are  regularly  called  by 


41 

the  people.  Every  member  of  the  Church 
has  an  equal  privilege  in  this  respect, 
having  a  voice  in  the  election  of  those 
who  are  to  be  over  him  in  the  Lord. 

Here  we  may  notice  the  salutary 
check  which  the  Presbytery  and  the 
people  mutually  hold  upon  each  other. 
If,  on  the  one  hand,  the  people  should, 
at  will,  ordain  their  own  minister,  who 
would  be  accountable  for  his  doctrine 
and  life  to  them  only,  the  greatest  abuses 
might  be  practiced,  under  the  garb  of 
religion.  They  might  be  influenced  by 
the  most  unworthy  motives,  in  the  se- 
lection of  an  individual  to  become  their 
Pastor;  and  if  he  could  succeed  to  render 
himself  acceptable — if  he  should  become 
popular,  on  account  of  his  talents,  style 
of  writing,  or  eloquence,  he  might  preach 
his  own  speculations  instead  of  the  Gos- 
pel, or  himself  instead  of  Christ,  and  his 

conduct  be  connived  at  notwithstanding. 

4=^ 


42 

He  might  privily  introduce  error,  and 
seduce  the  people  from  the  simplicity 
that  is  in  Christ,  and  yet  they  would 
sustain  him.  This  is  matter  of  history. 
In  this  way  men  have  "  brought  in  damna- 
ble heresy,  even  denying  the  Lord  that 
bought  them,"  and  have  corrupted  some 
of  the  fairest  portions  of  God's  heritage. 
In  some  instances,  also,  the  grossest  im- 
moralities have  been  countenanced  by  a 
people,  in  their  favorite  Preacher.  We 
are  told  expressly,  that  those  who  have 
itching  ears,  who  are  actuated  by  a  spirit 
of  self-pleasing,  will,  after  their  own  lusts, 
heap  to  themselves  Teachers. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  Presbytery 
should,  at  will,  ordain  persons  who  had 
not  been  tried  by  the  Churches,  who  had 
never  been  called  to  the  work  of  the 
Ministry  by  any  of  the  people  of  God, 
they  might  add  indefinitely  to  their  own 
number,  and  burden  the  Churches.  They 


43 

would  destroy  the  balance  of  power  in 
the  Presbytery,  wiiich  is  now  eqvially 
divided  between  the  Ministers  and  the 
Ruling  Elders,  who  are  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people ;  and  whenever  the 
people  are  not  represented  in  Church 
courts,  and  where  their  will  is  not  con- 
sulted, there  may  they  expect  to  be 
Priest-ridden  and  oppressed. 

Nor  is  our  government  a  pure  Democra- 
cy ;  it  is  constitutional ;  it  is  uniform,  ac- 
cording to  fixed  principles ;  and  it  is  or- 
derly subject  to  the  authority  of  the  one 
great  Head  of  the  Church.  We  have 
laws,  with  their  sanctions  and  officers,  by 
whom  they  are  to  be  executed,  and 
who  are  clothed  with  power  to  preserve 
the  purity  and  peace  of  the  Church. 

It  is,  in  many  respects,  analogous  and 
most  congenial  to  the  free  and  happy 
civil  government  under  which  we  live, 
and  may,  with  propriety,  be   called  a 


44 

Representative  Republican  Government, 
under  which  there  is  no  respect  of  per- 
sons. It  is  the  same  form  of  government 
which  was  established  in  the  primitive 
Churches,  and  we  know,  from  history,that 
it  is  the  same  which  the  Reformers  es- 
tablished, wherever  circumstances  per- 
mitted them  to  do  so,  and  which  they 
intended  to  establish  in  all  the  Churches 
which  were,  through  their  instrumental- 
ity, delivered  from  the  darkness,  idolatry 
and  abominations  of  Popery.  Luther, 
Calvin  and  Knox,  with  their  coadjutors, 
were  all  Presbyterians.  They  were  of 
one  mind  on  this  subject,  as  well  as  of 
one  spirit,  and  designed  to  establish  a 
uniform  government  in  the  Church,  as 
they  did  set  forth  a  uniform  faith.  The 
continuation  of  Prelacy  in  England  was 
owing  entirely  to  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  Reformation  was  intro- 
duced into  that  country.     The  civil  gov- 


45 

ernment  was  monarchical,  analogous  and 
most  friendly  to  which  is  Prelacy. 

The  reigning  monarch  at  the  time, 
who  had  received  from  the  Pope  the 
title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  as  a  re- 
ward for  the  book  he  had  written  in 
Latin  against  Luther,  found  it  afterwards 
convenient  and  desirable,  in  order  to 
accomplish  certain  domestic  arrange- 
ments, to  have  himself  acknowledged 
the  Head  of  the  Church,  instead 
of,  and  in  opposition  to,  the  Pope  at 
Rome,  with  whom  he  had  quarreled. 
Henry  VIH.,  that  he  might  be  divorced 
from  one  wife,  and  married  to  another — 
and,  without  having  changed  his  reli- 
gious sentiments — was  accordingly  so 
proclaimed,  and  therefore  it  was  that 
the  English  Church  only  exchanged  one 
Pope  for  another.  At  the  present  time 
their  sovereign  Queen  is  the  Head  of 
their  Church,  as  her  predecessors  have 


46 

been.  The  Reformation  there  was  check- 
ed, and  the  government  of  the  Church 
was  continued  much  in  the  same  form  as 
it  had  been  under  the  Pope,  being  admin- 
istered by  the  same  Bishops  who,  until 
then,  had  adhered  to  Rome,  and  many 
of  whom  were  still  in  heart  Papists,  as 
some  of  their  successors  have  been  ever 
since.  Those  who  were  truly  Protes- 
tants, and  who  cordially  embraced  the 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  petitioned 
and  labored  hard  for  the  Presbyterian 
form  of  Church  government.  They  com- 
plained and  remonstated  against  the  ob- 
jectionable forms  and  usages  which  were 
retained  during  successive  reigns,  until, 
by  cruel  acts  of  conformity,  attempts  at 
coercion  and  bloody  persecutions,  they 
were  driven  from  their  native  land,  some 
to  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  others 
to  these  shores  where  God  had  prepared 
an    asylum    for    them.     Now    we    say 


47 

it  is  matter  of  thankfulness  that  the 
Presbyterian  Church  has  been  preserved 
from  changes,  innovations  and  corrup- 
tions in  her  doctrine,  government  and 
usages,  to  bear  her  testimony  to  the 
truth.  She  is  the  same  in  these  respects 
now,  that  she  was  in  the  days  of  the 
Reformation,  and  in  the  days  of  the 
Apostles. 

By  her  primitive  simplicity,  and  the 
form  of  her  constitution,  she  is  peculiarly 
adapted  to  be  a  most  useful  and  efficient 
agent  in  the  preservation  and  propagation 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  among  all 
classes  of  persons,  and  in  all  time.  She 
has  no  outward  attractions  nor  imposing 
forms,  and  never  has  had ;  her  worship 
is  without  pomp  or  show,  and,  as  we 
believe  on  that  account,  more  solemn 
and  spiritual,  and  less  liable  to  abuse. 
Where  people  are  attracted  by  the  out- 
ward circumstances  of  religious  w^orship, 


48 

and  where  they  can  unite  in  it  without 
preparation  and  without  an  effort  of  the 
mind — Avithout  the  exercise  of  the  heart 
and  of  the  affections,  as  is  the  case 
where  written  forms  are  used- — they  are 
in  great  danger  of  deceiving  themselves 
with  a  name  to  live,  of  trusting  in  the 
forms  of  godliness,  of  indulging  in  a  self- 
righteous  spirit,  of  feeling  self-complacen- 
cy, and  of  crying  peace  when  there  is  no 
peace.  It  is  a  cheap  and  easy  way  of 
quieting  conscience,  and  of  keeping  upon 
good  terms  with  ourselves.  At  the  same 
time  we  do  not  say  that  it  is  necessarily 
so — by  no  means — ^we  know  it  is  not — 
we  only  say  that  it  is  peculiarly  liable  to 
this  abuse. 

There  can  be  no  better  organization 
than  ours  for  the  promotion  of  educa- 
tion and  the  improvement  of  the  con- 
dition of  men — for  the  diffusion  of  in- 
telligence, the  preservation  of  the  pub- 


49 

lie  morals,  the  elevation  of  the  standard 
of  piety,  nor  for  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature,  than  this  which 
God  has  given  us.  It  is  fully  compe- 
tent to  every  benevolent  operation,  and 
wherever  it  has  been  faithfully  admin- 
istered and  fully  carried  into  effect,  it 
has  been  proved  efficient  to  accomplish 
these  important  objects. 

The  Ministers  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  have,  for  the  most  part,  been 
pious,  educated  and  devoted  men,  and 
have  contributed  their  full  proportion 
of  labor  and  influence  to  the  cause  of 
education  and  to  the  work  of  spreading 
the  Gospel.  No  branch  of  the  Church 
has  done  more  for  the  establishment 
of  schools  and  the  diflfusion  of  know- 
ledge, for  the  instruction  of  youth  and 
of  the  members  of  her  communion. 
Those  who  have  been  educated  under 
her  care,  who  have  had  the  advantage 
5 


50 

of  her  Catechetical  instruction  in  the 
family  and  in  the  sanctuary,  who  regu- 
larly hear  the  Scriptures  expounded  and 
applied,  unless  they  have  been  most  cul- 
pably inattentive  and  negligent,  will  be 
found  intelligent  on  the  most  important 
subjects  of  their  duty,  familiarly  ac- 
quainted with  their  Bibles  and  with  the 
great  principles  of  the  Reformation. 

The  influence  of  this  system,  in  the 
formation  of  character,  may  be  learned 
from  the  spirit  which  has  characterized 
those  who  have  embraced  it.  They 
have  ever  been  the  advocates  of  human 
rights,  of  freedom  in  all  its  forms,  and  of 
the  largest  hberty.  They  have  cherish- 
ed and  inculcated  enlarged  views  of  all 
those  great  practical  subjects  which  have 
agitated  society,  and  which  affect  human 
happiness,  and  the  most  liberal  principles 
of  action  and  of  intercourse.  Hence, 
they  have,  in  every  country  and  in  every 


51 

age,  as  a  denomination  generally,  been 
true  patriots,  loyal  to  the  government 
under  which  they  lived,  and  supporters  of 
the  laws  and  of  the  constitution  by  which 
they  were  bound.  In  the  history  of  the 
changes  and  revolutions  which  have  oc- 
curred in  the  nations  among  whom  their 
lot  has  been  cast,  they  have  ever  been 
found  resisting  oppression  by  all  lawful 
means,  maintaining  the  cause  of  truth 
and  righteousness,  and  contending  for 
liberty  of  conscience. 

They  have  been  charged,  but  most 
unjustly,  with  bigotry  and  with  too  great 
rigor  in  adhering  to  their  doctrine  and 
discipline.  No  religious  sect  has  been, 
nor  is  any  evangelical  denomination  of 
Christians  at  this  moment,  so  Catholic 
as  Presbyterians  are  in  their  spirit,  in 
their  judgment  of  Christian  character, 
and  in  their  practice  as  it  respects  hold- 
ing communion    with  the   members   of 


52 

other  denominations  whom  they  consider 
to  be  united  to  Christ,  the  living  Head. 
They  are  candid,  frank  and  honest,  and 
desire  to  be  consistent,  which  may  give 
them  the  appearance,  to  some,  of  exchi- 
siveness,  but  it  is  the  appearance  only. 
They  require  of  those  who  are  to  be- 
come her  permanent  members — who  are 
to  be  regularly  admitted  into  her  com- 
munion— and  to  remain  as  constituent 
parts  of  her  family — an  acquaintance 
with  her  doctrines,  and  an  approbation 
of  them,  as  well  as  evidence  of  piety — 
and  they  require  of  those  who  seek  to 
be  ordained  as  her  Ministers  or  officers, 
a  cordial  adoption  of  her  public  stand- 
ards. 

To  pursue  a  different  course,  could 
not  be  for  peace  or  edification.  They 
owe  it  to  themselves — to  the  truth — and 
to  their  living  Head  to  be  loyal.  But 
they  do  not  judge  nor  denounce  those 


53 

who  differ  from  them — they  leave  all  to 
stand  or  fall  to  their  own  master.  They 
accord  to  all  cheerfully  that  which  they 
ask  for  themselves,  liberty  of  conscience. 
They  feel  a  strong  preference  for  their 
own  peculiar  system — they  have  em- 
braced it  from  a  conviction  of  its  excel- 
lence, and  of  its  conformity  to  the  Word 
of  God — but  they  do  not  regard  the 
adoption  of  it  as  essential  to  salvation. 
Neither  have  they  any  desire  to  obtrude 
it  or  to  impose  it  upon  others  as  the  con- 
dition of  salvation.  We  might  say 
much  of  the  salutary  influence  of  this 
system  on  individual  character,  and  on 
the  morals  of  the  community  in  those 
countries  where  it  has  been  received 
and  appreciated — but  we  forbear.  What 
we  have  said  of  it  has  not  been  in  a  spirit 
of  boasting,  but  from  a  sense  of  duty  to 
God  and  man — to  testify  to  its  divine 
5^^ 


54 

origin,  and  to  the  kind  interposition  of 
Providence    for   its   preservation. 

We  are  aware  that  the  adherence  of 
numbers  to  a  system  is  not  in  itself  evi- 
dence of  its  truth  or  excellence.  The  mere 
fact  that  a  society  holding  certain  sen- 
timents is  numerous,  is  no  evidence  in 
itself  that  they  have  the  truth,  or  that 
they  are  approved  of  God.  The  wicked 
have  hitherto  outnumbered  the  right- 
eous in  our  world — ^false  religions  have 
had  more  votaries  than  the  true — im- 
postors have  numbered  more  followers 
than  the  divinely  commissioned  Teachers 
of  God.  But  when  a  system  is  open  to 
examination  and  investigation — attend- 
ing which  there  is  no  concealment — 
when  it  has  stood  the  test  of  strong  op- 
position and  of  violent  persecutions — 
when  it  has  other  evidence  of  a  divine 
origin,  and  can  record  palpable  tokens 


55 

of  the  divine  approbation — then  its 
having  been  embraced  by  many  intelli- 
gent minds  in  different  parts  of  the  globe 
during  successive  centuries — and  its  be- 
ing still  embraced  by  numbers  who 
can  all  testify  to  its  salutary  influence, 
entitles  it  to  our  confidence. 

We  think  we  have  in  the  nature  of  this 
system,  and  in  the  character  of  its  doc- 
trines,evidence  that  it  came  from  God,  and 
that,  in  the  history  of  its  preservation,  we 
have  evidence  of  divine  interposition. 
It  is  not  a  system  formed  to  please  men, 
to  flatter  their  pride,  nor  is  it  lax  and 
indulgent,  conniving  at  sin ;  but  it  is  in- 
tended to  save  men  from  their  sins,  and, 
therefore,  does  it  lay  the  axe  at  the  root 
of  them  all — self  must  be  denied  and  re- 
nounced— pride  must  be  mortified  and 
humbled.  Those  who  embrace  it  are 
required  to  become  fools  for  Christ,  to 
consent  to  be  esteemed  so  by  others,  and 


66 

to  acknowledge  that  they  know  nothing 
as  they  ought  to  know  until  they  learn 
of  him  that  they. have  no  righteous- 
ness, and  can  never  establish  any  of 
their  own — that  they  are  not  sufficient 
of  themselves  so  much  as  to  think  any- 
thing of  themselves — that  they  must  be 
saved  by  grace  and  remain  forever  un- 
profitable servants.  Would  the  human 
mind  ever  have  invented  such  a  system 
of  doctrine  and  of  religion,  in  which 
there  is  no  self-pleasing  and  from  which 
all  boasting  of  man  is  taken  away,  and 
all  glorying  of  the  flesh  is  effectually 
and  forever  excluded  ?  or  would  the 
carnal  mind  in  its  unchanged  state  ever 
embrace  it  ?  We  can  account  from 
natural  causes  for  the  preservation  of 
those  systems  which  teach  that  men  can 
obtain  salvation  by  their  own  works — 
that,  to  be  a  member  of  the  visible 
Church,  and  to  give  alms  will  entitle  to 


57 

a  place  in  heaven.  Men  will  cheerful- 
ly submit  to  the  greatest  privations,  and 
make  any  sacrifices  if,  by  so  doing,  they 
can  quiet  conscience  and,  as  they  ima- 
gine, make  out  a  title  to  eternal  life. 
This  is  the  secret  of  the  success  of  false 
Teachers.  They  allow  their  followers  to 
act  from  a  principle  of  self-pleasing — to 
be  seen  of  men  to  gain  the  reputation 
of  eminent  piety  and  the  respect  which 
appertains  to  it.  They  teach  that  pen- 
ance is  the  price  of  absolution — that 
working  is  the  procuring  cause  of  future 
blessedness — thus  pride  is  not  mortified, 
but  cherished,  and  the  sinner  feels  him- 
self a  debtor  to  no  one  but  himself. 
Such  is  not  the  doctrine  of  Christ ;  ac- 
cording to  his  teaching  there  is  no  pro- 
mise of  saintship,  nor  of  Elysian  fields 
in  the  future  world,  as  the  reward  of 
meritorious  personal  acts  performed 
here,  or  of  mortifications  and  sacrifices 


58 

self-imposed.  All  hope  of  obtaining  justi- 
fication by  the  works  of  the  law  is  cut 
off.  The  sinner  must  condemn  himself 
and  give  God  the  glory — he  must  become 
a  debtor  to  his  rich  and  sovereign  grace 
— he  must  live  by  faith  and  not  by  sight, 
and,  therefore,  must  be  operated  upon 
by  an  influence  more  powerful  than  can 
be  exerted  by  human  motives  to  make 
the  sacrifice.  Hence,  we  believe  that 
the  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  pre- 
served by  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  on  the  hearts  of  men,  making  them 
willing  in  the  day  of  his  power  to  deny 
themselves  as  it  regards  pride,  self-con- 
fidence and  self-righteousness,  and  to 
take  up  their  cross  and  to  follow  Christ. 
It  is  thus  he  has  graciously  continued 
a  succession  of  Ministers  and  Elders  in 
her,  and  added  to  her  members.  He  has, 
at  times,  so  manifested  his  presence  and 
his  saving  power  in  the    conversion  of 


59 

multitudes,  that  disinterested  and  com- 
petent witnesses  were  constrained  to 
testify  to  the  reality  and  greatness  of 
the  work,  saying,  It  is  the  Lord.  But 
for  such  times  of  refreshing,  the  Presby- 
terian, and  every  branch  of  the  true 
Church  of  Christ,  would  long  ere  this 
have  become  extinct. 

There  are  seasons  of  revival  in  which 
numbers  are  brought  under  deep  and 
pungent  convictions  of  sin — are  led  cor- 
dially to  embrace  the  peculiar  doctrines 
of  grace,  and  to  rest  upon  Christ  alone 
for  salvation ;  and  when  the  subjects  of 
this  gracious  influence  exhibit  in  their 
lives  an  entire  change  of  character — 
a  change  of  spirit,  of  nature  and  habits. 
The  Spirit  of  God  comes  not  in  the  mighty 
wind,  nor  in  the  earthquake,  nor  in  the 
fire,  but  in  the  still  small  voice  of  the 
Gospel.  He  descends  like  the  dew  and 
like  the  rain,  to  secure  the  preservation 


60 

of  the  Church  in  this  world,  which,  un- 
der all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  is 
a  greater  miracle  than  any  of  those  re- 
corded in  the  Bihle. 

In  the  next  place,  I  wish  to  show 
you  that  we  have  just  cause  of  gratitude 
to  God  for  his  preservation  of  and  gra- 
cious dealings  with  this  Church,  of  which 
we  are  the  members  and  few  remaining 
representatives,  but  must  reserve  this 
part  of  our  subject  to  be  considered  this 
afternoon,  when  I  propose,  by  leave  of 
Providence,  to  give  a  brief  history  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  in   this  city. 

In  the  meanwhile,  let  us  learn  to  appre- 
ciate our  privileges  and  to  improve  them. 
We  have  an  open  Bible  and  liberty  of 
conscience.  We  may  all  have  access  to 
God,  through  Jesus  Christ  without  let  or 
hindrance. 

Let  us,  through  grace,  exhibit  in  our 
lives  the  legitimate  fruits  of  the  Gospel. 


61 

Let  us  hold  it  fast,  and  transmit  it  pure 
and  unadulterated,  giving  glory  to  God 
in  the  highest,  that  he  has  been  pleased 
to  make  known  the  terms  of  peace  on 
earth  and  his  good  will  to  men. 


DISCOURSE  II. 


DISCOURSE    II. 


TsxT.— Psalm  cxxiv.  1-8,—**  If  it  had  not  been  the  Lord  who 
was  on  our  side,  now  may  Israel  say  ;  If  it  had  not  been  the 
Lord  who  was  on  our  side,  when  men  rose  up  against  us:  Then 
they  had  swallowed  us  up  quick,  when  their  wrath  was  kindled 
against  us." 


It  hath  pleased  God  to  establish  a 
Church  in  our  world,  and  to  pledge  his 
truth  and  faithfulness,  as  well  as  his 
omnipotence,  for  her  preservation.  She 
is  built  upon  a  rock,  and  that  rock  is 
Christ.  When  Peter  professed  his 
faith  in  Him  as  the  Son  of  the  liv- 
ing God,  Jesus  said,  "  Upon  this  rock" — 
^.  6.,  upon  myself,  who  am  elsewhere 
in  the  Scriptures  expressly  called  the 
rock — upon  this  essential  and  eternal 
truth,  that  I  am  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
6* 


66 

the  living  God — upon  this,  as  upon  a 
rock — "  will  I  build  my  Church,  and  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
her."  Intimating  that  the  attempt  to  de- 
stroy her  would  be  made — that  she  must 
expect  the  assaults  of  hell — but  that 
they  would  be  in  vain.  Hence  the  Church 
is  also  said  to  be  built  upon  the  Apostles 
and  Prophets,  "  Jesus  Christ  himself  be- 
ing the  chief  corner-stone."  On  another 
occasion  our  Lord  made  known  to  his 
disciples  the  reason  why  the  enemies  of 
the  Church  should  be  unsuccessful.  He 
revealed  the  means  of  her  preservation, 
and  the  secret  of  her  safety  in  the  pro- 
mise, "  Lo !  I  am  with  you  always, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

Hitherto  this  promise  has  been  ful- 
filled ;  she  has  been  assaulted — she  has 
been  hated,  opposed,  and  persecuted — 
but  she  has  lived  through  all  the  tribu- 
lations and  dangers  which  her  enemies 


67 

have  occasioned   her,   and   through  all 
the  storms  and  revolutions  of  time. 

The  Church  is  one,  and  has  ever  been 
the  same  in  her  doctrines  and  laws ;  she 
has  ever  been  emphatically  the  light  of 
the  world  and  the  salt  of  the  earth,  ex- 
clusively furnishing  the  knowledge  of 
the  one  only  living  and  true  God,  and 
of  Jesus  Christ  the  only  Saviour,  and 
exerting  a  conservative  and  sanctifying 
influence.  We  speak  now  of  the  true 
Church  which  holds  forth  the  word  of 
life,  which  performs  her  appropriate 
functions,  and  accomplishes  the  great 
end  of  her  organization.  Which  proclaims 
by  her  Ministry  a  full  and  free  salvation 
through  a  crucified  Redeemer — keeping 
pure  and  accessible  to  all  the  fountain 
which  has  been  opened  for  sin  and  for 
uncleanness — and  imparting  to  all  the 
knowledge  of  its  efficacy.  Which  exe- 
cutes the  great  commission  of  her  ascend- 


6g 

ed  Lord — "  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature;"  and  by  letting  her  light  shine 
before  men — by  carrying  the  bread  and 
the  water  of  life  to  the  destitute,  "  makes 
glad  the  wilderness  and  the  solitary 
place,  and  causes  the  desert  to  rejoice 
and  blossom  as  the  rose."  It  becomes  us 
on  the  present  occasion  to  recall  to  our 
minds  the  great,  gracious  and  paramount 
design  of  our  Lord  in  establishing  his 
Church,  and  the  glorious  work  which  is 
to  be  accomplished  through  her  agency, 
viz.,  the  manifestation  of  his  perfections, 
the  display  of  his  glory  in  the  salvation 
of  sinners.  Each  separate  branch  of  the 
Church  should  be  as  a  light  shining  in  a 
dark  place — as  a  fountain  sending  forth 
living  and  healing  waters — as  a  tree  of 
life,  whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations.  May  we  not  say  in  truth, 
and  without  boasting,  and  ought  we  not 
to  say  with  thankfulness  that  such  has 


69 

been  the  character,  in  some  degree,  at 
least,  and  such  has  been  the  agency  to 
some  extent,  of  this  Church,  whose  new 
place  of  worship  we  have  been  permit- 
ted this  day  to  open  here.  We  think  it 
will  appear  also  from  a  brief  history  of 
the  origin,  trials  and  persecutions,  of 
the  kind  preservation,  and  salutary  in- 
fluence of  this  Church,  that  we  may  ap- 
ply to  her  the  language  of  the  text. 

In  January,  1707 — one  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  years  ago — the  first  move- 
ment was  made  which  led  to  the  organ- 
ization of  a  Presbyterian  Church  in  this 
city.  The  inhabitants,  at  that  time,  con- 
sisted principally  of  Dutch  Calvinists, 
who  worshiped  after  the  forms  of  the 
Church  of  Holland ;  of  French  Refugees, 
who  worshiped  after  the  Geneva  model; 
and  of  Episcopalians,  who  worshiped  ac- 
cording to  the  forms  of  the  Church  of 
England,     Besides  these,  there  were  a 


70 

few  Presbyterians,  who  came  together 
on  the  Sabbath,  and  worshiped  God  in 
a  private  house.  They  had  no  pubhc 
place  of  worship,  and  were  without  a 
Minister  to  lead  in  their  devotions,  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  or  to  administer  the 
sacraments  to  them.  They  were  thus 
early  taught,  what  it  was  to  be  strangers, 
and  to  be  as  sheep  without  a  Shepherd, 
that  they  might  ever  after  sympathize 
with  those  who  should  be  found  in  the 
same  situation.  In  the  month  and  year 
already  named,  two  Presbyterian  min- 
isters, Francis  McKemmie  and  John 
Hampton — from  the  eastern  shore  of 
Maryland — on  their  way  to  Boston,  vis- 
ited New  York.  As  was  most  natural, 
under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  the 
little  flock,  who  were  of  the  same  faith 
with  them,  desired  to  hear  them  preach. 
That  they  might  enjoy  this  privilege, 
they  made  application  to  the  consistory 


n 

of  the  Dutch  Church  for  the  use  of  their 
place  of  worship,  which  was  cheerfully 
granted.  But  there  was  another  per- 
sonage to  be  consulted.  The  people,  in 
those  days,  had  a  master,  and  one  who 
was  not  backward  to  let  them  know 
that  he  was  their  master.  It  was  ne- 
cessary to  obtain  permission  from  the 
Governor  of  the  Province,  who,  at  that 
time,  was  Lord  Cornbury.  He  refused 
to  grant  the  permission.  Having  been 
forbidden  to  preach  in  the  Dutch  Church, 
Mr.  McKemmie  preached  in  a  private 
house  in  Pearl  street,  and  also  baptized 
a  child.  For  performing  these  ministe- 
rial acts  without  a  license  from  his  Lord- 
ship, both  he  and  his  companion  were 
arrested,  brought  before  the  Governor, 
and  by  his  order  cast  into  prison.  They 
were  kept  in  confinement  nearly  two 
months,  when  they  were  brought  before 
the  Chief  Justice  by  a  writ  of  habeas 


72 

corpus.  Mr.  Hampton,  not  having  preach- 
ed in  the  city,  was  discharged,  and  Mr. 
McKemmie  admitted  to  bail.  In  June 
following,  he  returned  from  Virginia  to 
New  York,  to  answer  his  prosecution 
before  the  civil  court,  and  although, 
after  a  hearing  of  the  case,  he  was  ac- 
quitted by  the  jury,  yet  he  was  obliged 
to  pay  the  costs  of  suit,  amounting  to  a 
considerable  sum,  £83,  75.,  6d.  He  after- 
wards published  an  account  of  the  trial, 
in  a  pamphlet  form,  a  sketch  of  which 
may  also  be  found  in  Smith's  History  of 
New  York.  Thus,  in  their  first  move- 
ment towards  the  attainment  of  their 
object,  in  their  first  attempt  to  obtain 
the  administration  of  the  Word  and  or- 
dinances of  God,  the  Presbyterians  in 
this  city  met  with  opposition  and  perse- 
cution. This  taught  them  what  they 
were  to  expect,  reminded  them  that  in 
the  world  they  must  have  tribulation. 


73 

and  prepared  them  for  the  series  of  dis- 
couragements which  followed.  This 
treatment,  however,  did  not  change 
their  sentiments,  nor  did  it  disperse 
the  little  flock ;  but  only  retarded  the 
consummation  of  their  devout  and  earn- 
est desires.  In  consequence  of  it,  they 
were  kept  in  a  weak  and  unorganized 
state  for  ten  years.  We  hear  of  no  one 
of  their  own  denomination  attempting  to 
preach  to  them  during  all  that  period. 
Still  they  w^ere  not  permitted  to  aban- 
don their  enterprise.  God  had  an  im- 
portant work  for  them  to  do  in  this  city. 
They  must  not,  therefore,  cover  their 
light,  deny  their  principles,  and  do  vio- 
lence to  their  conscience,  by  quietly  and 
passively  uniting  with  other  Christian 
denominations. 

Much  as  we  deprecate   the   division 
of  feeble  communities  into  various  reli- 
gious sects,  on  account  of  slight  differ- 
7 


74 

ences  of  opinion,  by  reason  of  which 
they  deprive  themselves  of  the  regular 
ministrations  of  the  Gospel,  an  evil 
which  is  deeply  felt  and  extensively 
deplored  in  most  of  the  villages  and 
country  towns  throughout  our  land,  and 
while  we  would  inculcate  the  union  of 
all  who  agree  in  the  fundamental  truths 
of  revelation,  and  hold  the  same  Head, 
we  could  never  justify  an  abandonment 
of  vital  principles  and  of  essential  truths, 
nor  a  compromise  with  error.  Besides, 
if  we  would  enlist  men  of  different  na- 
tions, feelings,  sentiments  and  habits, 
which  are  not  sinful,  in  the  service  of 
God,  we  must  respect  even  their  reli- 
gious prejudices,  much  more  their  honest 
preferences;  and  Christian  union  does 
not  consist  in  outward  uniformity,  but 
in  sustaining  the  same  relation  to  Jesus 
Christ,  and  in  possessing  his  spirit.  It 
has,  no  doubt,  been  promoted  in  the  pres- 


75 

ent  state  of  society,  by  allowing  differ- 
ent creeds,  and  names,  and  forms  of 
worship  to  exist  unmolested.  There 
have  been,  and  still  are,  many  active 
and  useful  members  of  the  Church,  in 
their  respective  religious  societies,  who 
are  engaged  in  their  different  depart- 
ments, in  the  performance  of  an  import- 
ant work  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  who 
contribute  their  full  proportion  of  means 
and  influence  towards  the  advancement 
of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  in  the  world, 
but  who,  speaking  after  the  manner  of 
men,  would  do  nothing,  if  Israel  were 
not  divided  into  different  tribes,  and 
moving  under  separate  banners.  Hence, 
it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  dis- 
persion or  extinction  of  any  one  or 
more  of  the  different  religious  denomi- 
nations, or  the  closing  of  their  churches, 
would  be  a  gain  to  that  amount  to  the 
remaining   denominations.      We    have 


76 

reason  to  fear  that  many  would  not  act 
at  all,  if  they  were  not  permitted  to 
choose  their  own  communion,  and  if 
they  could  not  be  indulged  in  their  pecu- 
liar preferences.  It  is  in  this  as  in  alms- 
giving; if  there  were  but  one  object  of 
charity,  all  would  not  contribute  to  it,  nor 
would  it  be  better  supported  when  pre- 
sented alone,  than  it  is,  when  j)resented 
in  company  with  others,  which  commend 
themselves  respectively  to  the  minds  and 
sympathy  of  different  individuals. 

We  may,  in  this  connection,  notice 
another  mistake,  arising  from  want  of 
consideration  on  the  subject  of  build- 
ing and  supporting  separate  Churches. 
We  hear  persons  lament  the  expendi- 
ture of  large  sums  of  money  in  the 
erection  of  costly  buildings  for  places  of 
worship,  when  there  are  so  many  desti- 
tute of  the  means  of  grace,  taking  for 
granted  that  the  sums  thus  expended 


77 

are  taken  from  the  fund  which  would  be 
appropriated  to  supply  the  destitute  ;  in 
other  words,  that  it  is  robbing  the  poor 
to  gratify  the  rich.  But  this  is  a  great 
mistake  :  if  these  sums  were  not  thus 
expended,  they  would  not  be  applied  to 
the  destitute — they  would  either  be 
withheld,  or  expended  on  objects  less 
deserving.  Besides,  in  some  cases,  the 
restrictions  of  the  charter,  under  which 
funds  are  held,  prohibit  the  application 
of  them  to  any  other  use.  Surely  the 
house  in  which  w^e  worship  God  should 
bear  some  proportion,  as  to  its  price  and 
appearance,  to  the  houses  we  inhabit. 
Shall  we  dwell  in  ceiled  houses  and  in 
palaces,  and  by  our  neglect  of  the  house 
of  God,  seem  to  say  that  any  structure, 
the  humblest  and  plainest,  is  good  enough 
for  the  Lord !  Rather  let  us  bring  him 
a  costly  offering,  if  we  can  do  so  with- 
out robbery  or  injustice,  and  let  us  do  it 


78 

with  the  same  motive  which  actuated 
"  the  woman  who  broke  the  alabaster 
box  of  very  precious  ointment  wherewith 
she  anointed  her  Lord/'  and  then,  though 
we  may  be  censured  by  men  as  she 
was,  yet,  like  her,  we  shall  be  com- 
mended by  our  master,  and  have  our 
offering  accepted. 

We  may  lament,  on  some  accounts,  to 
see  separate  action  for  the  promotion  of 
kindred  benevolent  objects,  and  separate 
ecclesiastical  organizations  to  effect  one 
and  the  same  great  end,  yet  who  does 
not  know,  that  in  the  existing  state  of 
the  world,  they  are  necessary,  and  have 
been  overruled  by  Infinite  Wisdom,  to 
accomplish  a  vastly  larger   amount    of 
good  than  would  ever  have  been    ac- 
complished without  them  ?     Can  any  of 
us  now  regret  the  separate  organization 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  city  ? 
Would  it  have  been  better  for  the  city, 


79 

for  the   country,  and  for  the  world,  if 
those  individuals  who  first  sought  it  had 
yielded  their   preferences,  and   united 
themselves  in  Christian  fellowship  with 
the    existing   religious    denominations  ? 
He  who  saw  the  end  from  the  beginning 
thought  not  so;  we  who  know  some- 
thing of  the  results  of  that  organization, 
of  the  amount  of  salutary  and  saving  in- 
fluence which  has  been  exerted  by  it,  in 
the  formation  of  Christian  character  and 
in  the  bringing  of  multitudes  of  immor- 
tal souls  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  can- 
not think  so.    We  regard  with  the  deep- 
est interest  and  with  the  liveliest  emo- 
tions of  gratitude,  that  little  germ  of 
Presbyterianism,  that  little  vine  which 
was  then  planted,  that  little  rill  which 
then  took  its  rise. 

That  germ  has  become  a  sturdy  tree, 
that  vine  has  been  preserved  and  water- 
ed, and  has  shot  forth  its  branches,  bear- 


80 

ing  many  clusters  ;  we  are  permitted  to 
sit  under  its  branches  and  to  partake 
of  its  fruit- — that  little  rill  has,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  become  a  fertilizing 
river,  and  is  still  widening  and  deepen- 
ing its  channels  as  it  flows. 

In  1717,  John  Nicholl,  Patrick 
McKnight,  Gilbert  Livingston  and  Tho- 
mas Smith,  with  a  few  others,  formed 
the  design  of  erecting  themselves  into  a 
congregation,  and  of  establishing  the 
public  worship  of  God  among  them,  ac- 
cording to  the  doctrines  and  usages  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland. 
In  pursuance  of  this  design,  they  called 
the  Rev.  James  Anderson,  who  was  a 
native  of  Scotland,  educated  and  or- 
dained there,  but  at  the  time  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. 
This  sufficiently  contradicts  the  assertion 
which  has  been  published  to  the  world, 
that  this  was  originally  a  Congregational 


81 

Church.  If  more  is  necessary,  to  prove 
the  character  of  the  Church,  we  have  it 
in  the  Records  of  the  Session,  and  of  the 
Trustees,  and  in  the  several  pubHc  doc- 
uments relating  to  this  congregation. 
There  is  a  pamphlet  still  extant,  under 
the  title  of  the  "  Case  of  the  Scotch 
Presbyterians  of  New  York,"  contain- 
ing the  petitions  of  the  Church,  presented 
at  different  times,  for  an  act  of  incorpo- 
ration, in  which  they  style  themselves 
"  The  Presbyterian  Congregation,"  and 
afterwards  more  fully  "  The  Presbyteri- 
an Church  of  the  City  of  New  York,  ac- 
cording to  the  Westminster  Confession 
of  Faith,  Catechism  and  Directory,  agree- 
able to  the  Established  Church  of  Scot- 
land :"  also  containing  the  names  of  the 
Ministers,  of  the  Elders,  of  the  Deacons, 
and  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Church  at 
the  time,  showing  a  perfect  Presbyterian 
organization.     It  is  true,  that  there  was. 


82 

at  one  time,  a  division  in  the  congrega- 
tion, on  the  subject  of  Church  order, 
resulting  in  a  temporary  secession  of  a 
small  minority.  Some  of  those  who 
were  in  favor  of  New  England  usages, 
separated  from  the  Church,  and  obtained 
the  services  of  an  independent  minister 
of  the  Gospel,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Edwards, 
as  a  supply  for  one  winter.  But  after- 
wards finding  themselves  too  feeble  in 
numbers  and  resources,  to  continue  as 
an  independent  Church,  they  were  dis- 
banded, most  of  them  returning  to  the 
Church  which  they  had  left,  and  which 
continued  unchanged.  Mr.  Anderson 
and  his  people  met  at  first  for  the  public 
worship  of  God  in  the  City  Hall — then 
standing  at  the  corner  of  Nassau  and 
Wall  streets — the  use  of  which  was 
granted  them  by  the  corporation  of  the 
city.  The  next  year,  1718,  they  pur- 
chased a  lot  of  ground  in  Wall  Street, 


83 

and  in  1719,  erected  their  first  building 
for  a  place  of  worship.  To  defray  the 
expense  thus  incurred,  they  adopted  the 
expedient  which  has  been  so  generally 
practiced  ever  since,  of  sending  abroad 
for  aid.  A  Delegation  was  sent  into  the 
Colony  of  Connecticut,  who  obtained 
permission  from  the  Governor  to  make 
collections ;  and  Dr.  Nicholl  w  ent  to 
Scotland,  where  he  received  a  consider- 
able sum,  by  order  of  the  General  As- 
sembly of  that  Church. 

In  1720  they  made  their  first  application 
for  a  charter.  Their  petition  was  pre- 
sented to  Mr.  Schuyler,  President  of  the 
Board,  who  appeared  friendly  to  their  ob- 
ject, and  the  Council  reported  in  favor  of 
granting  their  request.  But  they  were 
defeated  by  the  officious  interference  and 
opposition  of  the  Vestry  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  A  member  of  the  Vestry  of 
Trinity  Church     appeared    before   the 


84 

Council,  to   oppose  the  granting   of  a 
charter. 

Shortly  after  this,  a  new  Governor 
having  arrived,  they  renev^ed  their  ap- 
plication, which  was  again  denied, 
through  the  influence  of  the  same  hos- 
tile party.  Instead  of  mentioning  in  de- 
tail, and  according  to  their  dates,  the 
repeated  subsequent  applications  which 
were  made  at  different  times  for  this 
boon,  so  reasonable  in  itself,  which 
might  have  been  so  easily  and  so  safely 
granted,  and  which  was  of  so  much  im- 
portance to  the  parties  seeking  it ;  and 
without  animadverting  on  the  pains  that 
were  taken  and  the  artifice  practiced  to 
defeat  the  several  applications,  or  on  the 
immanly,  ungenerous  and  unchristian 
spirit  of  those  who  diligently,  persever- 
ingly  and  obstinately  resisted  them;  we 
may  remark  here,  once  for  all,  that  the 
Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  had  influence 


85 

enough  at  court— which  they  never  ne- 
glected to  exert — to  prevent  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  this  city,  for  more  than 
half  a  century,  from  obtaining  a  charter 
of  incorporation.  We  mention  this  as 
matter  of  history,  and  we  trust  without 
any  unkind  feelings,  either  towards  the 
living  or  the  dead.  During  the  whole 
of  that  period  the  Presbyterians  were 
subject  to  great  inconvenience  and  in- 
jury, and  in  danger  of  having  their  prop- 
erty wrested  from  them.  There  were 
legacies  left  them  which  they  could  not 
receive,  and  the  avails  of  which  were 
diverted  to  other  pui-poses  than  those  for 
which  they  were  intended.  Meanwhile 
they  were  obliged  to  pay  their  full  pro- 
portion of  the  expense  of  supporting  the 
established  religion.  In  this  emergency, 
having  no  prospect  of  obtaining  a  char- 
ter, by  which  they  might  enjoy,  as  an 
incorporated  body,  a  right  to  their 
8 


86 

church  and  cemetery;  deeming  them 
unsafe  in  private  hands,  especially  con- 
sidering the  insidious  treatment  they  had 
received  from  those  who  were  hostile  to 
them,  and  taking  warning  by  what  had  oc- 
curred at  Jamaica,  on  Long  Island,  where 
the  property  of  the  Presbyterians  had 
been  actually  taken  from  them  by  the 
Episcopalians ;  and  being  also  alarmed 
by  the  attempts  which  had  been  made 
to  wrest  from  the  hands  of  an  individual 
the  amount  of  a  legacy  which  he  held 
in  trust  for  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
they  determined  to  vest  the  fee  of  their 
church  and  ground  in  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  to 
secure  them  against  any  similar  attempt 
to  alienate  them  from  the  pious  uses  for 
which  they  were  intended.  The  trust 
was  accepted  and  held  temporarily  by 
the  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Church    of  Scotland,  the  Mod- 


87 

erator  of  the  Presbytery  of  Edinburgh, 
the  Professor  of  Divinity  therein,  and 
the  Procurator  and  Agent  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland.  After  the  Revolution,  these 
gentlemen  reconveyed  the  property,  set- 
ting forth  the  purposes  for  which  it  was 
to  be  used,  to  the  Trustees  of  the 
Church. 

In  illustration  of  how  much  may  be 
done  towards  sustaining  a  Church,  by  a 
single  individual,  to  whom  Grod  gives  a 
heart  and  mind  for  his  service — and  also 
in  justice  to  the  memory  of  the  dead — 
it  may  be  mentioned,  that  the  whole 
management  of  the  temporal  affairs  of 
this  Church,  during  the  most  troublous 
and  trying  times  of  her  history,  was  en- 
trusted, almost  entirely,  to  Dr.  Nicholl. 

All  testified  to  his  singular  attention, 
diligence,  assiduity,  fidelity  and  perse- 
verance in  promoting  the  interests  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  this  city,  and  to 


88 

his  success  in  sustaining  them  during 
his  life.  He  has  left  behind  him  this 
honorable  testimony,  That  he  was  as 
eminent  for  his  piety  as  a  Christian,  as 
he  was  for  his  skill  as  a  physician,  and 
that  the  Presbyterian  interest  in  this 
city  is  more  indebted  to  him  than  to  any 
individual  who  ever  belonged  to  it. 

In  a  sermon  preached  on  the  occasion 
of  his  death,  by  the  pastor  of  the  Church 
at  the  time,  it  is  said,  "  These  walls  will 
be  a  lasting  monument  of  his  zeal  for 
the  house  and  public  worship  of  God, 
in  the  erecting  of  which  he  spent  a  con- 
siderable part  of  his  estate,  and  under- 
took a  hazardous  voyage  to  Europe  for 
the  establishment  and  security  of  this 
infant  society.  Upon  these  and  other 
accounts  too  numerous  to  be  mentioned, 
while  a  Presbyterian  Church  subsists  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  the  name  of  NichoU 
will  ever  be  remembered  with  honor,  as 


89 

one  of  its  principal  founders  and  its 
greatest  benefactors."  The  secret  of 
his  usefulness  and  success  was  to  be  found, 
under  God,  in  the  interest  which  he  felt 
in  the  Church.  He  set  his  heart  upon 
the  work  of  promoting  her  prosperity, 
and  did  not  allow  his  mind  to  be  diverted 
from  it  by  any  personal  considerations, 
nor  by  the  petty  and  pitiful  jealousies 
which  might  be  felt  or  expressed  re- 
specting him.  He  appreciated  Church 
privileges  for  himself,  and  comprehended 
their  importance  to  others.  He  did  not, 
however,  wait  for  others  to  take  the 
lead  in  perpetuating  them — nor  refuse 
to  act  because  others  would  not  co-ope- 
rate with  him.  He  did  not  say,  "  I  can 
do  without  a  Church  if  they  can  do  with- 
out it ;"  but  acting  under  a  sense  of  his 
individual  and  personal  responsibility, 
he  adopted  the  resolution  of  Joshua — to 
the  effect  that  whatever  others  might 
8^ 


90 

do,  as  for  him  and  his  house  they  would 
serve  the  Lord — yea,  he  redeemed  the 
time  and  did  with  his  might  what  his 
hands  found  to  do  for  God. 

In  1726,  Mr.  Anderson  accepted  a  call 
from  a  Church  in  Pennsylvania,  leaving 
the  Church  in  this  city  vacant. 

In  1727,  they  called  and  received  as 
their  Pastor,  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Pem- 
berton. 

It  was  during  his  ministry  that  the 
celebrated  and  highly-honored  servant 
of  God,  the  Rev.  George  Whitefield, 
visited  this  country.  Mr.  Pemberton 
was  the  only  Clergyman  in  this  city  who 
opened  his  Church  doors  to  him,  and  in- 
vited him  into  his  pulpit,  for  which  he 
was  abundantly  recompensed  of  God. 

The  preaching  of  Mr.  Whitefield  in 
Wall  street,  proved  a  great  blessing  to 
the  Church;  a  number  of  highly  respect- 
able    individuals     and    families    were 


91 

brought  into  the  congregation  through 
his  instrumentality,  and  both  the  Pastor 
and  the  Church  were  greatly  and  per- 
manently revived.  In  consequence  of 
the  great  increase  of  the  Church  at  that 
time,  it  became  necessary  to  enlarge 
their  place  of  worship,  which  was  done  in 
1748.  On  that  occasion,  a  committee  was 
sent  to  Boston  to  procure  a  stone  with  a 
Latin  inscription,  commemorative  of  the 
event,  the  translation  of  which  is  as 
follows,  "  Under  favor  of  God — this  edi- 
fice— sacred  to  the  perpetual  celebration 
of  Divine  worship — first  erected  in  1719 
— again  thoroughly  repaired  and  built 
larger  and  more  beautiful  in  1748.  The 
Presbyterians  of  New  York  founding — 
for  their  own  and  their  children's  use — 
have  given,  presented  and  dedicated— 
and  more  illustriously  adorned  by  reli- 
gion, concord,  love  and  the  purity  of  faith, 
worship  and  discipline.     May  it  by  favor 


92 

of  Christ  endure  to  many  generations.'* 
This  stone  has  been  preserved. 

The  following  inscription  was  placed 
in  the  wall  over  the  magistrate's  pew, 
also  in  Latin.  "  Under  the  auspices  of 
George  II.,  King  of  Great  Britain,  Pa- 
tron of  the  Church,  and  Defender  of 
the  Faith." 

From  this  we  may  learn  something  of 
the  state  of  things  at  that  time,  of  the 
interest  which  was  felt  in  the  cause  of 
religion,  and  of  the  pains  which  were 
taken  in  building  the  house  of  God. 

But  the  increase  of  the  Church  was 
not  the  only  blessing  which  was  sent 
them  in  return  for  their  hospitable  and 
courteous  reception  of  Mr.  Whitefield. 
His  preaching  in  a  neighboring  city  was 
under  God,  the  means  of  the  conversion 
of  one,  who  subsequently  became  their 
Pastor,  and  served  them  as  such  with 
great  fidelity  and  success  for  more  than 


93 

half  a  century — one  who  exerted  a  more 
extensive  influence  for  good — received 
more  honor  as  a  laborer  in  the  Word  and 
doctrine  of  Christ,  and  who  is  recollect- 
ed by  those  who  knew  him  with  more 
affection  than  any  who  has  ever  served 
them  in  the  ministry.  His  biographer 
informs  us,  that  on  one  occasion,  when 
Mr.  Whitefield  was  preaching  in  Phila- 
delphia in  the  open  air,  as  he  frequently 
did,  young  Rodgers,  then  a  lad  of  about 
twelve  years  of  age,  was  among  his  hear- 
ers, when  the  following  incident,which  is 
familiar  to  many  of  you,  occurred.  To 
show  his  respect  for  his  favorite  Preach- 
er, he  approached  near  him  and  held  a 
lantern  for  his  accommodation.  He  soon 
became  so  absorbed  in  the  subject  of  the 
discourse — was  so  deeply  impressed  and 
so  agitated,  that  he  was  scarcely  able  to 
stand.  Under  this  excitement,  he  un- 
consciously allowed  the  lantern  to  fall, 


94 

by  which  it  was  broken  and  the  hght 
extinguished.  The  circumstance,  of 
course,  attracted  the  notice  of  those  who 
were  near,  and  of  the  speaker  at  the  time. 

The  impressions  he  then  received 
were  confirmed  and  deepened,  and  re- 
sulted, as  he  beheved,  in  his  conver- 
sion. 

During  the  fifth  visit  of  Mr.  White- 
field  to  America,  which  occurred  some 
years  after,  he  had  occasion  to  visit  the 
place  where  Mr.  Rodgers  (who  in  the 
meantime  had  been  prepared  for,  and 
admitted  into  the  ministry)  was  settled 
as  a  Pastor.  When  riding  with  him  one 
day,  in  the  course  of  conversation,  Mr. 
Rodgers  asked  him  whether  he  recol- 
lected the  incident  in  the  case  of  the  lit- 
tle boy  who  became  so  much  affected 
under  his  preaching  as  to  let  his  lantern 
fall?  Mr.  Whitefield  replied  that  he 
did,  and  had  often  thought  he  would 


give  almost  anything  to  know  who  he 
was,  and  what  had  become  of  him.  Mr. 
Rodgers  repUed,  I  am  that  Uttle  boy. 
The  emotions  of  Mr.  Whitefield  can  bet- 
ter be  conceived  than  described,  when 
he  affectionately  embraced  him,  and 
with  tears  of  joy  remarked  that  Mr. 
Rodgers  was  the  fourteenth  person  then 
in  the  ministry  whom  he  had  discovered 
in  the  course  of  that  visit  to  America, 
of  whose  hopeful  conversion  he  had  been 
the  instrument. 

The  congregation  continuing  to  in- 
crease, in  1750  they  called  Mr.  Alexan- 
der Cummings — a  Licentiate  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Newcastle — to  be  a  colleague 
with  Mr.  Pemberton.  He  accepted 
their  call,  was  ordained,  and  entered  on 
the  duties  of  his  office. 

Shortly  after  this,  serious  and  painful 
difficulties  occurred  in  the  congregation, 
which  resulted  in  the  resignation  of  both 


96 

Ministers.     The  causes  of  these  were 
various.     Doubtless  they  might  in  part 
be  traced  to  the  hasty  admissions  into 
the  Church  of  some  who  were  not  root- 
ed and  grounded  in  the  truth,  and  who 
felt  no  attachment  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  as  such.     The  Ministers  at  that 
time  had  allowed  a  departure  from  the 
order  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.     Mr. 
Pemberton  had  been  educated  in  New 
England,  and  could  not  be  expected  to 
sympathize  with  those  of  his  congregation 
who  came  from  Scotland  and  Ireland. 
He  allowed  the  office  of  Ruling  Elder  to 
go  into  disuse,  and  required  their  duties 
to  be  performed  by  the  Deacons  and 
Trustees.     Mr.    Cummings   accepted  a 
call  from  a  Congregational  Church,  from 
which  we  may  infer  that  he,  too,  pre- 
ferred that  form  of  Church  government. 
They    also    attempted    to   introduce 
Watt's  version  of  the  Psalms,  with  his 


9T 

Hymns,  which  occasioned  a  warm  and 
protracted  contest.  Besides,  they  im- 
mediately experienced  the  evils  of  hav- 
ing more  than  one  Minister  over  the  same 
Pastoral  charge — each  having  their  ad- 
herents and  followers.  Evils  which  they 
continued  to  feel  during  their  subsequent 
history,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  until 
the  collegiate  system  w^as  discontinued. 
The  congregation  remained  vacant 
for  a  considerable  time,  in  consequence 
of  their  divided  state.  The  subject  of 
their  difficulties  was  referred  to  the  syn- 
od— a  committee  of  that  body  visited 
them,  and  endeavored  to  restore  peace 
and  harmony.  In  the  meantime,  they 
made  four  different  attempts  to  obtain  a 
Minister,  and  were  disappointed.  The 
fifth  person  whom  they  called  was  the 
Rev.  David  Bostwick,  of  Jamaica,  L.  I. 
After  much  opposition  on  the  part  of  his 
people,  and  consequent  delay,  he  accept- 
9 


98 

ed  their  call,  and  became  their  Pastor  in 
1756.  In  the  early  part  of  his  ministry, 
which  was  popular,  acceptable,  and  high- 
ly successful,  a  portion  of  the  dissatisfied 
members  of  the  Church  seceded  and 
formed  the  First  Associate  Reformed 
Church,  in  Cedar  street — now  the  Scotch 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Grand  street. 
After  that  separation  the  remaining 
Church  was  left  in  peace  and  quietness 
in  their  own  communion. 

In  1762,  they  purchased  a  parsonage 
house  for  Mr.  Bostwick — and  also  called 
the  Rev.  Joseph  Treat,  of  the  Presbytery 
of  New  Brunswick,  to  be  his  colleague. 
The  next  year,  in  1763,  Mr.  Bostwick 
was  remoA^ed  from  them  by  death,  after 
a  few  days'  illness — having  been  much 
beloved  and  highly  esteemed  by  all  who 
knew  him. 

In  1765,  they  called  the  Rev.  John 
Rodgers,  to  whom  they  had  before  ap- 


99 

a  very  different  spirit  towards  the  Pres- 
plied  in  1754,  but  ayIio  then  declined 
their  invitation.  Mr.  Rodgers  accepted 
their  second  call,  entered  on  the  duties  of 
his  office  in  July,  and  was  installed  as  Pas- 
tor in  September,  of  that  year.  Again 
the  Church  was  revived,  prospered,  and 
greatly  increased.  It  became  necessary 
to  procure  a  second  place  of  worship.  A 
lot  was  accordingly  obtained  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Nassau  and  Beekman  streets,  on 
a  perpetual  lease,  from  the  Corporation 
of  the  City,  upon  which  a  new  building 
was  erected.  This  second  place  of  wor- 
ship was  opened  and  dedicated  to  the 
worship  of  God  in  January,  1768. 

The  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  this  city,  and  throughout  the 
colonies,  were,  with  few  exceptions,  at- 
tached to  the  American  cause  in  the 
Revolutionary  struggle  for  the  liberties 
and  Independence  of  the  country.  In 
consequence  of  this,  most  of  the  mem- 


100 

bers  of  the  First  Church  went  with  their 
Ministers  into  exile  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war.  We  need  not  add  that 
there  was  no  advancement  in  reHgion— 
no  increase  nor  extension  of  the  Church 
during  the  war.  Just  as  was  the  cause  of 
it,  all  was  havoc,  desolation  and  ruin  dur- 
ing its  continuance — the  necessary  con- 
comitants of  war  under  any  circumstances. 

On  their  return  to  the  city,  after  an 
absence  of  some  seven  years,  they  found 
that  the  church  edifice  in  Wall  street 
had  been  used  by  the  British  as  bar- 
racks for  their  soldiers,  and  the  one  in 
Beekman  street  as  a  hospital.  Both  were 
left  in  such  an  injured  and  ruinous  state 
as  to  be  utterly  unfit  for  occupancy  as 
places  of  worship.  The  Parsonage  house 
belonging  to  the  church  had  also  been 
burnt. 

The  Episcopalians  (whose  churches 
had  not  been  injured  at  all)  manifested 


101 

byterians  after  the  Revolution,  from  that 
which  had  characterized  their  treatment 
of  them  before  that  event.  They  had 
been  supported  by  the  State,  alHed  with 
the  government,  and  in  favor  at  court. 
They  had  been  in  the  ascendency — 
but  they  were  now  a  small  minority — 
and  it  was  a  question  with  them,  no 
doubt,  whether  they  were  to  be  tolera- 
ted. They  had  become,  in  their  turn, 
as  they  have  been  ever  since  in  this 
country,  the  Dissenters.  They  general- 
ly, with  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  dis- 
sented from  the  patriots  of  the  Revolu- 
tion— ^from  the  policy  and  movements  of 
the  successful  and  predominant  portion 
of  our  citizens,  who,  under  God,  achieved 
our  Independence — from  the  principles 
of  our  free  government,  and  of  all  our 
popular  institutions.  If  the  Presbyteri- 
ans had  felt  disposed  to  follow  their  ex- 
ample, and  had  desired  a  national  reli- 
9# 


102 

gion,   established  by  law,   they   might 
have  obtained  it.     But  they  were  op- 
posed to  such  an  arrangement  from  prin- 
ciple ;  and  it  w^as  owing  to  their  influ- 
ence— especially  to  the  influence  of  those 
evangelical  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  who 
were  opposed  to  Prelacy — that  the  Con- 
stitution of  the   United  States  on  that 
subject  was  framed  as  it  is — favoring  no 
one  religious  denomination,  but  protect- 
ing all.     Their  petitions,  drawn  up  with 
great   ability — their  papers,  containing 
their  firm,  powerful  and  decided  remon- 
strance against  a  union  of  the  Church 
with  the  State — are   still  extant ;  from 
which  it  appears  that  they  entertained 
as    enlightened,    enlarged,    liberal    and 
disinterested  views  on  this  subject,  as 
any  that  have  been  expressed  since,  and 
which  were    creditable    alike   to   their 
heads  and  their  hearts. 

The  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church  now 


103 

unsolicited  offered  the  Presbyterians  the 
use  of  St.  Paul's  and  of  St.  George's 
churches,  until  one  of  their  own  church- 
es might  be  repaired,  which  offer  was 
accepted.  They  also,  at  a  subsequent 
period  and  unsolicited,  gave  the  Presby- 
terians a  lot  of  ground  in  Robinson 
street,  for  the  use  of  their  senior  Minis- 
ter. Such  a  spirit  was  in  accordance 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  and  should 
ever  characterize  those  who  profess  to 
love  and  worship  the  same  Saviour. 
"  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  so 
fulfill  the  law  of  Christ."  Different 
names,  or  the  observance  of  different 
forms  and  ceremonies,  should  not  be  per- 
mitted to  separate — much  less  to  alien- 
ate— those  who  hold  one  faith  and  one 
baptism — who  have  access  by  one  Spirit 
— who  worship  one  Lord  as  the  God 
and  Father  of  all,  and  cherish  one  and 
the  same  hope  of  their  calling. 


104 

The  Brick  Church  was  first  repaired 
and  reopened  in  June,  1784.  The  church 
in  Wall  street  was  repaired  and  reopened 
the  following  year.  Mr.  Treat  not  hav- 
ing returned  to  the  city  after  the  war, 
the  united  congregations  called,  in  the 
ensuing  spring,  the  Rev.  James  Wilson 
as  a  colleague  with  Dr.  Rodgers.  Mr. 
Wilson's  health  failing,  he  was  obliged 
to  resign  his  charge  in  1788.  They 
were  then  for  a  few  months  supplied  by 
two  candidates,  viz.,  the  Rev.  James 
Muir,  from  Scotland,  and  the  Rev.  Jed- 
ediah  Morse,  author  of  the  American 
Geography.  As  the  congregations  be- 
came nearly  equally  divided  between 
the  two,  they  were  unable  to  unite  in  a 
call  for  either  of  them.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  they  called  the  Rev.  John  Mc- 
Knight,  who,  having  accepted  their  invi- 
tation, was  installed  as  co-pastor  with 
Dr.  Rodgers,  over  the  united  congrega- 
tions. 


105 

About  this  time  the  Trustees  purchased 
a  lot  in  Nassau  street,  joining  the  lot 
upon  which  the  church  in  Wall  street 
was  built,  and  erected  a  building  there- 
on to  be  used  as  a  charity  school,  to  be 
under  the  care  of  the  Session  and  Trus- 
tees of  the  Church.  The  funds  required 
for  this  object,  consisted  in  part  of  lega- 
cies which  had  been  left  for  it,  and  in 
part  of  sums  raised  by  voluntary  sub- 
scriptions. The  school  went  into  ope- 
ration in  1789,  and  was  principally  sup- 
ported by  an  annual  collection  in  each 
of  the  Churches.  It  continued  in  con- 
nection with  the  Church  until  an  ar- 
rangement was  made  with  the  Public 
School  Society,  by  which  it  was  placed 
under  their  care.  I  mention  this  to  re- 
mind you  that  parochial  schools  are  not  a 
modern  institution.  They  ought  to  be — 
as  it  was  intended  that  they  should  be 
— an  appendage  to  every  Church.     In 


106 

1792,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Miller  was  called 
and  installed  as  one  of  the  pastors  of  the 
two  Churches.  In  1798,  a  third  Presby- 
terian Church  was  opened  in  Rutgers 
street.  The  ground  upon  which  it  was 
erected  having  been  presented  for  that 
purpose  by  the  late  Henry  Rutgers,  a 
member  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Milledoler  was  called  and 
settled  as  the  first  Pastor  of  that  Church, 
with  the  understanding  that  his  labors 
were  to  be  confined  to  that  charge.  In 
1807,  a  colony  from  the  Church  in  Wall 
street  and  from  the  Brick  Church,  with 
others  who  were  unable  to  obtain  pews 
in  either  of  those  places  of  worship,  pur- 
chased ground  and  built  the  Cedar  street 
Church.  Dr.  Rodgers  was  permitted 
to  lay  the  corner  stone,  and  to  preach 
the  opening  sermon,  in  each  of  those 
Churches. 

In  1809,  the  Churches  were  separated, 


107 

and  became  independent  of  each  other : 
each  having  their  own  Pastors,  except 
that  Dr.  Rodgers  continued  his  pastoral 
relation  to  the  First  and  to  the  Brick 
Churches. 

In  that  and  the  following  year,  the 
Church  in  Wall  street  was  rebuilt.  The 
congregation  met  for  public  worship  from 
the  9th  of  December,  1809,  to  the  11th 
of  August,  1811,  in  the  French  Church 
in  Pine  street.  During  the  same  period 
another  Presbyterian  church  was  built  in 
Spring  street,  in  part,  of  the  materials  of 
the  old  Church  in  Wall  street.  We 
may  here  remark  that  considering  the 
time,  the  resources  and  circumstances 
of  the  congregation,  the  house  of  wor- 
ship which  was  erected  in  Wall  street 
at  that  time,  was  relatively  quite  as 
costly  as  the  one  we  have  this  day  en- 
tered ;  and  also,  that  it  was  built  by  the 
contributions  of  the  people,  and  not  with 


108 

funds  raised  by  the  sale  of  other  proper- 
ty. The  pew-owners — as  has  been  done 
by  others  in  similar  cases — relinquished 
their  rights,  and  repurchased  their  pews 
at  high  prices,  to  pay  the  debt  incurred 
by  the  erection  of  the  new  building. 
They  did  not  embarrass  their  Trustees 
and  their  Building  Committee  with 
threats  of  desertion  and  abandonment ; 
saying,  if  you  incur  the  least  debt,  we 
will  leave  you  to  pay  it  as  you  can. 
Such  a  spirit  would  never  have  built  up 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  nor  will  it  build 
up  any  Church — it  is  that  holding  back 
and  pulling  down  spirit  which  would  crip- 
ple every  noble,  generous  and  benevolent 
enterprise.  They  viewed  their  Trus- 
tees as  their  agents,  to  prepare  a  place 
of  worship  for  them  and  their  children. 
They  felt  themselves  their  debtors,  and 
equally  interested  in  the  success  of  the 
Church.     They  said,  we  must  have  the 


109 

Church,  and  we  are  willing  to  pay  for 
it — and  they  did  so. 

The  separation  of  the  Churches  having 
been  effected  by  mutual  consent,  Dr. 
McKnight,  with  the  permission  of  Pres- 
bytery, resigned  his  pastoral  charge. 

Dr.  Rodgers  departed  this  life  in  May, 
1811,  leaving  Dr.  Miller  sole  Pastor.  For 
the  facts  of  this  brief  history  I  have  been 
indebted  to  the  records  of  the  Church, 
and  to  a  MS.  narrative  contained  in 
them,  and  also  to  the  history  of  this 
Church,  which  has  been  more  fully  pub- 
lished— together  with  some  account  of 
each  of  the  Pastors— by  Dr.  Miller,  in 
his  life  of  Dr.  Rodgers — a  book  which 
ought  to  be  in  every  Presbyterian 
family. 

In  1813,  the  Church  was  left  vacant 
by  the  removal  of  Dr.  Miller  to  Prince- 
ton,   where,   as    is    known  to  most   of 
you,  he  is  still  living,  usefully  employed 
10 


no 

as  one  of  the  Professors  in  our  Theolo- 
gical Seminary — highly  respected  and 
much  beloved  throughout  the  bounds  of 
our  own  Church  not  only,  but  by  the 
Christian  community  at  large. 

In  1815,  the  Rev.  Philip  Melancthon 
Whelpley  received  and  accepted  a  call 
to  become  the  Pastor  of  this  Church. 
He  continued  in  that  office  until  his  re- 
moval by  death  in  July,  1824.  The  pul- 
pit v^as  again  left  vacant,  until  January, 
1826,  w^hen  he  who  now  addresses  you 
was  installed  Pastor. 

In  1834,  the  building  which  had  been 
erected  in  1810,  was  partially  destroyed 
by  fire.  It  was,  however,  immediately 
rebuilt,  and  reopened  for  worship  on 
the  same  ground  in  1835.  The  congre- 
gation in  the  meanwhile  occupied  the 
church  then  belonging  to  the  Reformed 
Presbyterians  in  Chambers  street. 

In  May,  1844,  the   commodious  and 


Ill 

beautiful  house  of  worship  in  Wall  street 
was  vacated  by  this  congregation,  and 
has  been  removed  to  Jersey  city,  where 
it  is  used  for  the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  built,  and  where  it  may  be  visited 
by  those  who  love  to  have  awakened 
and  to  cherish  the  associations  and  re- 
collections of  former  days. 

Having  been  obliged  by  circumstances, 
over  which  we  as  a  religious  society 
had  no  control,  to  abandon  our  former 
much  beloved  place  of  worship — having 
sought  Divine  direction — praying  in  sin- 
cerity in  the  language  of  Moses — saying 
"  Lord,  if  thy  presence  go  not  with  us, 
carry  us  not  up  hence" — and  having 
been  advised  by  the  Presbytery  to  which 
we  belong  to  remove  to  this  part  of  the 
city — we  felt  called  upon  in  the  Provi- 
dence of  God  to  sacrifice  personal  feel- 
ings and  considerations,  for  the  promo- 
tion of  the  general  good  of  the  Church. 


112 

We  laid  the  corner  stone  of  this  building 
in  September,  1844.  To-day  we  have 
been  permitted  to  open  it  as  a  house  of 
prayer.  We  enter  it — not  to  commence 
a  new  enterprise,  but,  with  the  blessing 
of  God,  more  eifectually  to  carry  for- 
ward that  holy  enterprise  which  was 
commenced  more  than  a  century  ago — • 
we  have  come  here,  not  for  the  first 
time  to  plant  a  vine  ;  but  as  it  were,  to 
transplant  and  to  cause  it  to  take  deeper 
root — a  vine  which  has  long  since  been 
planted,  and  which  has  at  different  times 
been  watered  with  the  dews  of  heaven, 
and  with  the  early  and  latter  rains.  We 
have  come  with  the  hope  and  the  pur- 
pose, more  fully  and  extensively  to  ac- 
complish the  pious  and  benevolent  de- 
signs of  the  original  founders  of  this 
Church,  to  afford  accommodations  for 
public  worship,  and  for  the  giving  of  re- 
ligious instruction  to  a  greater  number 


113 

of  those  for  whose  benefit  these  privi- 
leges were  intended,  than  were  enjoy- 
ing them  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city. 

We  feel  called  upon,  on  the  present 
occasion,  to  record  the  loving-kindness 
and  faithfulness  of  our  God,  who  has  for 
so  long  a  period,  and  through  so  many 
changes  and  trials  preserved  a  people 
called  by  his  name — distinguished  for 
their  warm  and  sincere  attachment  to 
his  truth  and  devotedness  to  his  ser- 
vice— to  whom  he  has  sent  a  succession 
of  pious,  able,  and  faithful  Ministers, 
who  have  preached  the  same  Gospel  of 
his  grace,  and  administered  the  same 
sacraments  in  their  purity,  and  after  the 
same  simple  form  of  their  original  insti- 
tution ;  among  whom  he  has  raised  up  a 
succession  of  godly  and  intelligent  Elders 
to  take  the  spiritual  oversight  of  the 
flock,  and  for  whom  he  has  continued  a 
Board  of  Trustees  of  high  character  and 
10* 


114 

respectability  to  take  an  interest  in,  and 
to  manage  with  wisdom  their  temporal 
affairs  ?  Who  can  estimate  the  degree 
and  extent  of  that  salutary  influence 
which  has  been  exerted  immediately  and 
remotely  on  the  temporal  and  eternal  in- 
terests of  men  through  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel — the  administration  of  the 
sacraments,  and  in  answer  to  the  prayers 
which  have  been  offered  by  this  single 
Church  ?  The  amount  of  influence 
which  has  been  exerted  in  the  formation 
of  Christian  character,  and  in  the  promo- 
tion of  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  in- 
dividuals, of  families  and  of  the  commu- 
nity— of  the  knowledge  which  has  been 
imparted — of  the  Christian  sympathy 
which  has  been  awakened — of  the  true 
charity  which  has  been  exercised — as 
well  as  the  measures  of  grace  which 
have  been  communicated  through  this 
medium  for  the  sanctification  and  pre- 


115 

paration  of  immortal  souls  for  heaven, 
can  be  disclosed  in  eternity  only. 

We  desire  to  feel  our  responsibility 
as  the  successors  of  so  many  generations 
of  those  who  have  gone  before  us — hold- 
ing forth  the  Word  of  life,  and  holding 
fast  the  form  of  sound  words  set  forth 
in  our  public  standards,  and  derived 
from  the  oracles  of  God.  We  are  called 
upon  in  a  peculiar  manner  to  walk 
worthy  of  our  high  vocation— we  must 
see  to  it  that  we  hold  the  same  truths 
and  transmit  them  uncorrupted  as  they 
have  come  to  us.  The  history  of  this 
Church  must  not  be  blotted  in  that  pe- 
riod of  it  in  which  we  constitute  her 
members — there  must  be  no  break  in 
the  chain  at  the  link  which  we  are  ex- 
pected to  supply — there  must  be  no 
abandonment  of  any  of  those  doctrines, 
the  faith  of  which  has,  according  to  the 
testimony  of  so  many  witnesses,  been 


116 

efficacious  to  sanctify,  to  support,  to 
comfort  and  to  save.  Let  us  continue 
in  the  old  ways  and  walk  in  the  old 
paths,  for  we  know  they  are  safe  and 
lead  to  everlasting  life. 

If,  at  any  time,  we  should  feel  tempt- 
ed to  forsake  the  Church  of  our  Fathers, 
or  to  relax  our  efforts  to  sustain  her,  let 
us  remember  their  noble  example  of  at- 
tachment and  of  devotion  to  her.  What 
was  it  that  induced  them  to  band  to- 
gether as  a  Christian  Church,  and  to 
persevere  in  their  struggles  to  maintain 
their  separate  and  distinct  existence  as 
such,  under  all  the  trying  circumstances 
of  their  situation  ?  Why  did  they  make 
so  many  sacrifices,  and  submit  to  so 
many  vexations,  and  to  so  much  injury 
and  obloquy  on  account  of  it  ?  Why 
did  they  tax  themselves  for  its  support, 
when  they  were  obliged  to  contribute 
to  the  support  of  another  form  of  wor- 


117 

ship  at  the  same  time  ?  When  they 
found  the  enterprise  encompassed  with 
so  many  difficulties,  why  did  they  not 
abandon  it  ?  It  was  principle  ;  it  was 
their  love  of  the  truth  and  of  the  admin- 
istration of  the  ordinances  of  God,  as 
they  believed  them  to  have  been  insti- 
tuted by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  it  was 
for  the  sake  of  a  good  conscience,  both 
toward  God  and  toward  man. 

Wherefore,  when  tempted  to  embrace 
a  different  system,  let  us  ask  ourselves, 
is  the  religion  which  it  teaches  purer 
and  holier  than  that  of  our  Fathers  ?  Are 
the  forms  of  its  worship  more  Scriptural 
or  more  spiritual  than  theirs  ?  Is  it  a 
system  of  truth  more  efficacious  to  pre- 
pare us  for  death  and  for  heaven,  than 
that  which  we  have  been  taught  by  our 
Fathers  ?  Is  it  one  which  will  cause  us 
to  hate  sin  more — to  love  and  practice 
holiness   more   perfectly  ?    which    will 


118 

more  effectually  change  our  spirits,  im- 
prove our  hearts,  and  reform  our  lives  ? 
which  will  make  us  more  truly  humble — 
more  sincerely  and  devoutly  pious  ? 
which  will  constrain  us  more  powerfully 
to  renounce  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil,  and  will  enable  us  to  serve  God 
with  more  simplicity,  fidelity  and  godly 
sincerity  ?  which  will  cause  us  to  love 
his  truth,  his  ordinances,  and  his  king- 
dom more,  and  to  abound  more  in  all 
good  works,  to  the  honor  and  glory  of 
His  name  ? 

If  so,  let  us  embrace  it  anywhere,  and 
under  any  name.  But  if  not,  why 
should  we  renounce  our  faith,  repudiate 
the  validity  of  the  ministrations  of  the 
Church  which  God  has  honored  ?  within 
the  pale  of  which  we  were  born, 
within  whose  precincts  we  were  sol- 
emnly dedicated  to  God,  and  taught  to 
worship  Him  only  ?     Rather  let  us  abide 


119 

in  the  precious  and  endearing  Church 
relations  into  which  God,  in  his  Provi- 
dence, has  brought  us,  cherishing  a  sense 
of  our  present  and  constant  dependence 
on  Him ;  and  supphcating  the  continu- 
ance of  his  favor.  We  declare  this  day, 
publicly  before  God  and  the  world,  that 
we  hold  the  same  faith  which  has  been 
professed  and  proclaimed  in  this  Church 
from  its  commencement.  We  desire  to 
reiterate  our  sincere,  devout  and  fervent 
supplications,  that  this  house  may  ever 
be  used  exclusively  for  the  pure  and 
holy  worship  of  the  One  only  living 
and  true  God;  that  the  peculiar  doc- 
trines of  divine  revelation,  as  received 
by  the  Presbyterian  Church,  may  con- 
tinue to  be  believed,  faithfully  preached 
and  inculcated  here ;  and  that  the  dis- 
pensation of  them  may  be  attended  with 
the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  and  with 
divine  and  saving  power.    That  we,  with 


120 

our  children  and  their  successive  gene- 
rations, may  here  assemble  from  time  to 
time  in  honor  of  Jehovah,  to  receive 
the  bread  and  water  of  life,  so  abun- 
dantly provided  by  the  great  Head  of 
the  Church;  that  multitudes  may  here 
be  brought  to  the  knowledge  and  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  truth,  according 
to  godliness,  be  preserved  in  the  unity 
of  the  Spirit,  and  in  the  bonds  of  peace, 
walking  in  faith,  and  hope,  and  joy, 
through  their  union  with  Him  who  is 
the  resurrection  and  the  life;  whose  de- 
light and  privilege  it  shall  be,  to  be  act- 
ively and  successfully  engaged  in  the 
work  of  winning  souls,  until  all  the  ran- 
somed of  the  Lord  shall  be  gathered 
into  his  fold,  and  time  shall  be  no  more. 


THE      END. 


VALUABLE  BOOKS 

PUBLISHED  BY 

R.  CARTER,  58  CANAL  STREET,  N.  Y., 

AND 

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HORNE'S   INTRODUCTION. 

An  Introduction  to  the  Critical  Study  and  Knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. By  Thomas  Hartwell  Home,  B.D.  New  Edition,  corrected 
and  enlarged.  Illustrated  with  numerous  Maps  and  Fac-similes  of 
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N.  Y.  Evangelist. 

D'AUBIGNE'S   REFORMATION. 

Authorized  edition. 

THE    ISRAEL  OF  GOD. 

A  Series  of  Practical  Sennons.  By  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D-,  Rector  ol 
St.  George's  Church,  New-York.      1  vol.  8vo.     Price  $1  00. 

"The  fair  sheet  on  which  they  are  printed,  with  its  wide  margin  and  handsome 
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always  clear,  and  the  argument  cogent." — Recorder. 

ANCIENT  HISTORY. 

Containing  the  History  of  Egyptians,  Assyrians,  Cl)aldeans,  Medes,  Lydi- 
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"  This  history  is  not  a  servile  copy  from  any  other,  but  has  a  delightful  freshness 
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plain  path  through  well  assorted  and  happily  adjusted  facts,  cheered  by  a  vivacity 
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1 


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THE    FAMILY   OF    BETHANY. 

Bv  L.  Bonnet.       With    an    Introductory  Essay,  by  Rev.  Hugh  White. 

Fourth  American,  from  the  eighth  London  Edition. 

"  This  book  leads  us,  as  with  an  angel's  hand,  through  some  of  the  most  interesting 
scenes  in  the  life  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  It  is  full  of  evangelical  truth,  of 
glowing  imagery,  of  living,  breathing  devotion.  We  recommend  il  lor  its  intellectual 
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THE   RETROSPECT; 

Or,  Review  of  Providencial  Mercies.     With  Anecdotes  of  Various  Chai 
acters.      By  Aliquis,  formerly  a  Lieutenant  in  the  Royal  Navy,  and  now 
a  Minister  of  the  English  Church.     Third  American  from  the  eighteenth 
London  edition. 

"The  great  jiopularit}'  of  this  volume  appears  from  the  large  number  of  editions 
through  which  it  has  passed  in  Great  Britain  in  a  short  number  of  years,  having  now 
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can  assure  our  readt;rs  that  there  are  few  works  of  the  kind  so  deeply  interesting,  or 
60  well  adapted  to  religious  edification.    We  cordially  recommend  iu" — Chris.  Int 

THE    MARTYR    LAMB; 

Or,  Christ  the  Representative  of  his  People  in  all  Ages.  By  F.  W. 
Krummacher,  D.  D.,  author  of  "  Elijah  the  Tishbite/'  &c.  Fourtlt 
Edition . 

ELIJAH    THE   TISHBITE. 
By  F.  W.  Krummacher. 

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be  the  expression  of  a  heart  warmed  by  piety,  and  susceptible  of  the  tenderest  emo 
tions.     lie  displays  a  happy  tact,  in  developing,  in  the  most  pleasing  manner,  the  cir 
cumslances  of  a  scriptural  incident  or  character,  aud  of  deriving  from  it  practical 
lessons." — Preshylcrian. 

MCCRIE    ON    ESTHER. 

Lectures  on  the  Book  of  Esther.  By  the  Rev.  Thomas  McCrie,  D.D., 
author  of  "  Life  of  John  Knox,"  &c. 

A    TREATISE    ON    PRAYER; 

Designed  to  assist  in  the  devout  discharge  of  that  duty.     By  the  Rev. 

Edward  Bickersteth. 

MICHAEL    KEMP, 

The  Happy  Farmer's  Lad.  A  Tale  of  Rustic  Life,  illustrative 'of  the 
Soriptunil  Blessings  and  Temporal  Advantages  of  Early  Piety.  By 
Anne  AVoodroolTe.      Second  Edition. 

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Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  '  we  couldn't  help  it."    We  were  struck  with  the  ingeuu 
ous  disposition  and  firm  principles  of  fllichael,  and  we  wished  to  see  how  they  would 
boar  him  tlitougli  Trying  scenes.     So  much  for  tlie  interest  which  the  story  excites 
the  other  merits  of  tiie  book  are  not  inferior." — Baptist  Advocate. 

COMFORT    IN    AFFLICTION. 

A  Series  of  jNleditatioiis.      By  the  Rev.  James  Buchanan,  one  of  the  Min 
istf^rs  of  ih"  nigh  Church,  Edinburgh.     From  the  nintVi  Edinb.  Edition 
LIGHTS  8l  SHADOWS  OF  SCOTTISH    LIFE 
By  Professor  Wilson.      18mo. 

MEMOIR    OF    MARY    LUNDIE    DUNCAN 

Second  American  Edition.      ISmo. 

PRACTICAL    REFLECTIONS. 

On  the  Second  Advent.     By  the  Rev.  Hugh  White,  A.M.     18mo 


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PERSUASIVES    TO    EARLY    PIETY. 

By  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Pike. 

DODDRIDGE'S   RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

Rise  and  Progress  of  Religion  in  the  Soul.  Illustrated  in  a  Course  of  Se- 
rious and  Pi-actical  Addresses,  suited  to  persons  of  every  character  and 
circumstance,  with  a  Devout  Meditation  or  Prayer  subjoined  to  each 
chapter.     By  Philip  Doddridge,  D.D. 

THE    COTTAGE    FIRESIDE;  ' 

Or,  the  Parish  Schoolmaster.     By  the  Rev.  Henry  Duncan,  D.D. 

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can  relish  the  simple  and  beautiful  in  thouglit  and  expression." — Argus. 

THE    CHRISTIAN    CONTEMPLATED, 

In  a  Course  of  Lectures  delivered  in  the  Argyle  Chapel,  Bath.  By  Rev. 
William  Jay.      New  Edition. 

"It  has  all  the  peculiar  marks  of  Jay's  mind  ;  perspicuity  of  arrangement,  simpli- 
city and  occasional  elegance  of  diction,  deep-toned  piety  and  copiousness  of  senti- 
ment. In  recommending  such  a  book  we  are  conscious  of  doing  a  service  to  the 
cause  01  piety,  by  promoting  the  spiritual-mindedness,  and  consistent,  symmetrical 
onduct  of  every  Christian  who  prayerfully  peruses  it." — Baptist  Advocate. 

WORKS    OF   REV.    HENRY    SCOUQAL. 

Containing  the  Life  of  God  in  the  Soul,  &c. 

DEW    OF    ISRAEL, 

\nd  the  Lily  of  God ;  or,  a  Glimpse  of  the  Kingdom  of  Grace.  By  F. 
W.  Krummacher,  D.D.  Second  American,  from  the  second  London 
Edition. 

CHRISTIAN     FRAGMENTS; 

Or,  Remarks  on  the  Nature,  Precepts,  and  Comforts  of  Religion.  By 
John  Burns,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  Regius  Professor  of  Surgery  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Glasgow,  &c.  &c. 

"The  different  pieces  constitute  so  many  distinct,  tlioiigh  sometimes  brief,  disquisi- 
tions upon  scriptural  topics,  and  arc  designed  to  promote  the  spiritual-mindedness  of 
the  reader.  They  were  written  under  the  ))ressure  of  deep  affliction,  and  in  view  o. 
an  approaching  judgment.  They  display  sound  thought,  evangelical  sentiment,  cor- 
rect doctrine,  and  an  elevated  tone  of  Christian  feeling." — Advocate. 

CHRISTIAN    FATHER    AT    HOME; 

Or,    a  Manual  of  Parental  Instruction.     By  W.  C.  Brownlee,  D.D. 

A  GLIMPSE  INTO 

THE   WORLD    TO    COME, 

In  a  Waking  Dream.  By  the  late  George  B.  Phillips.  With  Extracts, 
illustrative  of  his  Spiritual  Progress  ;  and  a  Brief  Memoir,  by  Mrs. 
Duncan,  author  of  "  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Mary  Lundie  Duncan,"  &c. 

"This  is  altogether  an  extraordinary  production.     The  small  portion  of  it  which 
gives  it  its  title,  is  a  strain  of  fervent  pious  imaginings,  based  however  upon  tlie  ora- 
cles of  God.    One  cannot  easily  read  it  without  gaining  a  more  deep  and  solid  im 
pression  of  the  other  world.'' 
7 


R.  CARTER'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


INFANT    PIETY. 

A  Book  for  Little  Children.     By  Baptist  W.  Noel,  M.A. 

"In  this  volume  one  of  the  finest  spirits  in  the  established  church  of  England  givei 
us  a  simple  record  of  the  pious  lives  and  happy  deaths  of  several  little  children  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The  work  is  well  adapted  to  accomplish  the  benevolent 
design  of  its  author,  by  leading  little  children  to  remember  their  Creator." — Albany 
Evening  Journal. 

A   MEMOIR   OF  JOHN    HUSS. 

Translated  from  the  German. 

"To  many  who  are  familiar  with  the  life  of  Martin  Luther,  that  of  John  tiuss,  who 
preceded  him,  and  prepared  the  German  mind  for  his  more  extended  labours,  is  com- 
paratively little  known.  The  true  character  of  Romanism  is  displayed  in  the  treat- 
inent  of  each,  but  some  of  the  darkest  shades  are  seen  in  the  case  of  Huss." — Baptist 
Advocate. 

HELEN    OF    THE  GLEN. 

A  Tale  of  the  Scottish  Covenanters.     By  Robert  Pollok,  A.M. 

THE  PERSECUTED   FAMILY. 

By  Pollok. 

RALPH  GEMMELL. 

By  Pollok. 

JESSY    ALLAN, 

The  Lame  GirL     By  Grace  Kennedy,  author  of  "  Anna  Ross/'  dtc. 

"It  is  an  affecting  tale,  and  strikingly  illustrates  the  power  of  religion,  and  it*  full 
adequacy  to  human  wants  in  every  emergency."— CAristiait  Mirror. 

SINNER'S    FRIEND. 

•From  the  eighty-seventh  London  Edition,  completing  upwards  of  half  a 

million. 
Jt^p"  This  little  Work  has  h€en  translated  into  sixteen  different  languages. 
"It  is  designed  by  its  direct  appeals,  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  most  careless 
reader,  and  to  pour  into  his  ear  some  word  of  truth  before  he  can  become  fatigued 
with  reading." — Presbyterian. 

"It  is  fitte<l  to  be  an  adniirnblc  auxiliary  to  ministers  iH  the  discharge  of  their 
duty." — Albany  Daily  Advertiser. 

DECAPOLIS; 

Or,  the  Individual  OV)]i<rations  of  Christians  to  save  Souls  from  Death.  An 
Essay.  By  David  Everard  Ford.  Fifth  American,  from  the  sixth 
London  Edition. 

"This  book  is  an  exhortation  to  Chrii^tiaus,  and  Christian  ministers,  to  exercise 
prcater  faitiifulness  in  saving-  .■■nul.«  from  off  rnal  dentil.  We  have  read  it  with  much 
pleasure,  and  we  hope  with  som*-  profit.  The  book  is  most  beautifully  pot  up  )  and 
we  could  wish  that  it  might  nc  rnad  and  pondered  by  every  one  who  indulges  a  hopo 
that  he  is  a  Christian." — N.  \.  Ecangclist. 

SHORTER    CATECHISM. 

Anecdotes  Illustrative  of  the  Shorter  Catechism.  By  John  WhitecrosS. 
New  Edition. 

"This  will  relieve  the  catechism  of  a  difficulty  wliicli  many  have  f°It  in  respect  to  it 
—that  it  is  too  abstract  to  be  coniprrhfiurled  by  the  mind  of  a  child  ;  here  every  truth 
is  seen  in  its  practical  relations,  at.d  beconh's  associated  in  the  mind  with  »ome  inter- 
esting fact  which  is  fitted  at  once  to  make  it  plain  to  the  understanding,  to  lodge  it  in 
the  memory,  and  to  impress  it  upon  the  heart." — Daily  Advertiser. 


R.   CARTER'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


MEMOIR  OF  JOHN    D.    LOCKWOOD. 

Being  Reminiscences  of  a  Son  by  his  Father. 

"A  gifted  mind  and  cultivated  powers,  hallowed  and  controlled  by  a  sweet  and 
trustful  piety ;  the  simplicity  of  childliood  mingled  with  the  seriousness  and  discre- 
tion of  mature  age, — we  are  sure  no  one  could  watch  his  brief  career,  terminating  in 
a  death,  though  sudden,  not  unprepared  for,  without  deep  interest.  We  have  read 
it  with  unmingled  pleasure  and  profit  " — If.  Y.  Evangelist. 

PERFECT  PEACE. 

Letters  Memorial  of  John  Warren  Howell,   Esq,,  of  Bath,   M.  R.  C.  S. 
By  the  Rev.  David  Pitcairn.     With  an  Introduction  by  the  Rev.  John 
Stevenson,  author  of  "  Christ  on  the  Cross,"  "  The  Lord  our  Shepherd 
&c. 

PROFESSION    IS    NOT  PRINCIPLE; 

Or  the  Name  of  Christian  is  not  Christianity.  By  Grace  Kennedy,  authoi 
of  "  Jessy  Allan,"  "  Anna  Ross,"  &c. 

GOSPEL  PROMISES.    . 

Being  a  Short  View  of  the  Great  and  Precious  Promises  of  the  Gospel. 
By  the  Rev.  Joseph  AUeine,  author  of  "  An  Alarm  to  the  Unconvert- 
ed," &c. 

LIFE    IN    EARNEST. 

Six   Lectures  on  Christian  Activity   and  Ardour.     By  the  Rev.   Jame 
Hamilton,  author  of  "  Harp  on  the  Willows,"  &c. 

MY  GRANDMAMMA  GILBERT. 

By*01d  Humphrey. 

MY  GRANDFATHER   GREGORY.    - 

By  Old  Humphrey. 

MEMOIR   OF   HANNAH   SINCLAIR. 

By  the  late  Rev.  Legh  Richmond.     From  the  nineteenth  London  Edition. 

TRUE   HAPPINESS; 

Or,  the  Excellence  and  Power  of  Early  Religion.  By  J.  G.  Pike,  author 
of  "  Persuasives  to  Early  Piety,"  &c.     Second  Edition. 

CHARLIE  SEYMOUR; 

Or,  the  Good  Aunt  and  the  Bad  Aunt.  By  Miss  Catharine  Sinclair,  au- 
thor of  "  Modern  Accomplishments,"  &c.     Third  Edition. 

LIVE  WHILE  YOU    LIVE. 

By  the  Rev.  Thomas  Griffith,  A.M.,  Minister  of  Ram's  Episcopal  Church, 
Homerton. 

CROOK   IN   THE   LOT; 

Or,  a  Display  of  the  Sovereignty  and  Wisdom  of  God  in  the  Afflictions  of, 
Men,  and  the  Christian's  Deportment  under  them.  By  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Boston. 

A  TRIBUTE  OF   PARENTAL  AFFECTION 

To  the  Memory  of  my  beloved  and  only  Daughter,  Hannah  Jerram,  with 
a  Short  Account  of  the  last  Illness  and  Death  of  her  elder  Brother, 
Charles    Stranger    Jerram.       By    the    Rev.  Charles    Jerram,    A.M.. 
Vicar  of  Cobham,  Surrey,     From  the  fifth  London  Edition.' 
9 


R.CARTER'S  PUBLICATIONS; 


THE   LORD'S    SUPPER. 

Bickersteth's  Treatise  on  the  Lord's  Supper.  With  an  Introduction, 
Notes,  and  an  Essay.      By  G.  T.  Bedell,  D.D.     Fifth  Edition. 

COMMUNICANT'S    COMPANION. 

By  the  Rev.  Matthew  Henry.  With  an  Introductory  Essay,  by  the  Rey. 
John  Brown  of  Edinburgh. 

BAXTER'S    CALL. 

Now  or  Never,  &,c.     With  an  Introductory  Essay,  by  Dr.  Chalmers. 

RELIGION    AND    ETERNAL    LIFE; 

Or,  Irreligion  ami  Eternal  Death.      ByJ.  G.Pike. 

THE    FARMER'S    DAUGHTER. 

A  Tale.      By  Mrs.  Cameron. 

LIFE  OF   REV.  JOHN    NEWTON. 

VVxitten  by  himself,  and  coiuinued  to  his  Death.    By  the  Rev.  Rich.  Cecil. 

THE    HARP  ON   THE  WILLOWS. 

Rememberins^  Zion,  Farewell  to  F.gypt,  The  Church  in  the  House,  The 
Dew  of  Hermon,  and  the  Des-tinution  of  the  .lews.  By  the  Rev  Jas. 
Hamilton,  of  London.      From  the  foriy-fifih  "London  Edition, 

SABBATH    MUSINGS. 

By  Caroline  Fry. 

HERVEY'S     MEDITATIONS 

AND  CONTEMPLATIONS. 
New  Edition. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

IN  EUROPE. 
Willi  a  Chronology. 

MY    SCHOOL-BOY    DAYS. 

SORRONA^ING,    YET    REJOICING. 

Or  a  Narrative  of  Successive  Bereavements  in  a  Clei-gyman's  Family. 

DIVINE    ORIGIN    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

By  J.  G.  Pike,  author  of  "  True  Happiness."  &c.,  &c. 

A  WORLD    NA^ITHOUT    SOULS. 

ByJ.  W.  Cunningham,  A.M.,  Vicar  of  Harrow. 

THE    NA/ORLD'S    RELIGION. 

As  contrasted   with  genuine  Christianity,  by  Lady  Colquhoun. 

ADVICE   TO   A   YOUNG    CHRISTIAN, 

On  the  inportance  of  aiming  at  an  elevated  standard  of  piety.  By  a  Village 
Pastor,  with  an  Introduction  by  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander,  of  Princeton,  N.  J 

CHRISTIAN    EXPERIENCE. 

By  the  Author  of  "  Christian  Retirement." 
10 


R.   CARTER'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


WORKS  BY  THE  REV.  JOHN  A.  CLAM,  D.D, 

Late  Rector  of  St.  Andreio's  Church,  Philadelphia. 

His  works  are  all  characterized  by  good  thoughts  expressed  in  a  graceful  and  ap« 
propriate  manner,  by  great  seriousness  and  unction,  and  an  earnest  desire  to  promote 
the  spiritual  interests  of  his  fellow-men." — Daily  Advertiser. 

A    NA^ALK   ABOUT    ZION. 

Reviaed  and  Enlarged.     Fifth  Edition.      12mo.     Two  steel  Engiavings 

THE    PASTOR'S    TESTIMONY. 

Revised  and  Corrected.     Fifth  Edition.      12mo.     Two  steel  Engravings. 

THE    YOUNG    DISCIPLE; 

Or,  a  Memoir  oi  Anzonetta  R.  Peters.     Fourth  Edition.      12mo. 

GATHERED    FRAGMENTS. 

Fourth  Edition.      12mo.      Two  steel  Engravings. 

Containing.— The  M'EUen  Family. — The  Paralytic. — The  Withered  Branch  Re- 
vived.— The  Baptism. — Little  Ann. — The  Meeting  of  the  Travellers. — Mary  Mayr 
wood. — ^A  Family  in  Eternity. — One  whose  Record  is  on  High,  &c.  &c.j 

GLEANINGS   BY  THE  NA^AY. 

•  Or,  Travels  in  the  Country.      1  vol.  12mo. 

AXA^AKE,  THOU    SLEEPER! 

A  Series  of  Awakening  Discourses.      12mo. 

"  Few  American  clergymen  have  contributed  more  by  their  efforts  from  the  pu]pit 
and  through  the  press,  to  promote  the  cause  of  evangelical  truth  and  piety,  than  the  la- 
aaeuted  author  of  this  volume.  Happily,  though  dead,  he  yet  speaks  in  a  tone  of  im- 
pressive and  earnest  admonition  ;  and  the  present  volume  particularly,  is  a  witnesy 
to  the  fdelity  and  zeal  witli  which  ho  discharged  his  ministerial  duties.  The  subjects 
of  whicn  it  treats  are  of  the  deepest  momenlt ;  and  the  manner  in  which  he  treats 
tfaem  is  worthy  of  the  tenderness  and  fidelity  of  an  ambassador  of  Christ.  The  work 
is  admirably  adapted  to  promote  a  revival  of  religion." 

COMPLETE  WORKS   OF   BISHOP   BUTLER. 

Containing  Analogy  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,  Dissertations,  Ser- 
mons, Correspondence  with  Dr.  Clarke,  &c.  &c.  To  which  is  prefixed 
an  Account  of  the  Character  and  Writings  of  the  Author.  By  Dr.  Ha- 
lifax, Bishop  of  Gloucester.  1  vol,  8vo.  Splendid  Edition,  on  pica 
type  and  fine  paper. 

BUTLER'S   ANALOGY.     Large  type.     8vo. 

BUTLER'S    SERMONS.      8vo. 

BAXTER'S    SAINTS'    REST.     Large  type. 

DICK    ON    ACTS. 

Lectures  on  the  Acts  of  tlie  Apostles.  By  the  late  John  Dick,  D.D., 
Professor  of  Theology  of  the  United  Secession  Church,  Glasgow,  authoi 
of  "  Lectures  on  Theology,"  &c.  From  second  Glasgow  Edition.    Bvo. 

"The  style  of  the  author  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  a  work  of  this  description.  It 
U  uncommonly  perspicuous,  terse,  nervous  and  calm.  His  ideas  are  the  production 
of  a  highly-cultivated  mind,  originally  endowed  with  strong  common  sense,  lu 
many  respects  he  has  the  characteristics  of  Andrew  Fuller,  with  more  of  the  polish  of 
the  school." — Baptist  Advocate. 

MEMOIR   OF    MRS.     ISABELLA  GRAHAM, 
II 


R.   CARTER'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

t '  ""'"  .  -a 

JAY'S    MORNING    EXERCISES 
For  the  Closet,  for  Every  Day  in  the  Year.     New  Edition.     12mo. 

JAY'S    EVENING    EXERCISES 

For  the  Closet,  for  Every  Day  in  the  Year.  New  Edition.  12mo.  Uni- 
form with  the  Morning  Exercises. 

DAVID'S    PSALMS.     48mo.  gilt. 

Do.  do.  With  Brown's  Notes.     18mo. 

THE     INQUIRER    DIRECTED 

To  an  Experimental  and  Practical  View  of  the  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
By  Rev.  Octavius  Winslow.     1  vol.  12mo. 

CHRIST   OUR    LAW. 

By  Miss  Caroline  Fry.  Author  of  "  The  Listener,"  "  Christ  our  Exam- 
ple," &c.     1  vol.  12mo.     Second  Edition. 

LIFE,    NA^ALK   AND  TRIUMPH    OF    FAITH. 

By  the  Rev.  W.  Romaine,  A.M.      12mo.     New  Edition.     Muslin. 

KEY  TO  THE  SHORTER  CATECHIS.M, 

Containing  Catechetical  Exercises,  a  Paraphrase,  and  a  new  Series  of 
Proofs  on  each  Question.     New  Edition.      18mo.' 

SORRONA^ING    YET  REJOICI  N  G.     32mo.  gilt  edge. 

CONTEST  AND    ARMOUR. 

By  Dr.  Abercrombie.     32mo.   extra  cloth,  gilt  edge 

GIFT    FOR    MOURNERS. 

By  Flavel  and  Cecil.     32mo.    extra  cloth,    gilt  edge. 

CECIL'S     REMAINS. 

Remains  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Cecil,  M.A.  To  which  is  prefixed  a  View 
of  his  Character.  By  Joseph  Pratt,  B.D.,  F.A.S.  From  the  eleventh 
London  Edition.      1  vol.  12mo. 

ALLEINE'S    LIFE    AND    LETTERS.     12mo 

HERVEY'S    MEDITATIONS.     2  vols.  18mo. 

MEMOIR    OF    DR.    NISBET. 

By  Dr.  Miller,  of  Princeton.      12mo. 

HILL  AND   VALLEY.      By  Miss  Sinclair.     12mo 

SIR    ROLAND    ASHTON; 

^  ^Tale  ot  t^e  crimes* 

By  Lady  Catherine  Long.    2  vols.   12mo. 

CHRI^ST    ON     THE    CROSS. 

By  Stevenson,     f  vol.   12mo. 
12 


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